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BRIEF AND COMPLETE HISTORY OF OUR GROWTH
The Waszkiewicz name is synonymous with flowers. John C. Waszkiewicz
started Chester’s Flowers in Utica, NY. His son - John Chester, Jr., worked
with his father Chester in the flower shop. He loved the work but hated watching
flowers wither and die. So J.C., Jr. and his wife Joan started Faster-Form in
1948 in the basement of their home. They began by making wicker baskets for
florists, with the goal “to put on the market a flower holder for use in
arrangements, bouquets, corsages, etc. that will be much more efficient for the
florist and more satisfactory to the customer.” Faster-Form developed the
‘flower clip’, which is patented in 7 countries. He also invented and
patented a procedure to preserve the beauty of floral arrangements, bridal
bouquets and special garden varieties for an indefinite period of time. The
company uses a special procedure to seal roses and other flowers inside glass
balls, vases, brandy snifters and boxes to create gift items containing real
preserved flowers and greenery. Today, there are about 2,000 items in the
product line. In 1979, there were 2 flower preservation processes. Today, there
are 11 different processes.
J.C. Waszkiewicz III went to work full-time at Faster-Form - by then a major manufacturer and
international supplier of artificial and preserved flora with 27 patents in 11
countries - as a Salesman in 1975. Through his hard work and corporate
dedication, he became President and owner in 1979. Under J.C.'s leadership the company
has improved efficiencies and experienced progress in literally every area of
operations. When he became President in 1979, there were 10 employees in 2
divisions working in 3 buildings, processing plants and growing fields in
Upstate New York and the East Coast of Florida. Today, Faster-Form and its 9
divisions employ over 80 people. In 1994, a state-of-the-art processing
plant was completed in Frankfort, NY. The 3 original buildings in New York State
have been condensed under one roof with 65,000 square feet for production,
marketing, fulfillment and managerial operations.
The
facility features advanced application procedures and semi-automated assembly
lines. The efficiencies gained by the upgrading result in a savings per
application of approximately 14%.
In
the summer of 1997, Faster-Form Corporation purchased Harding Floral Containers of Worcester,
Mass. The product line contains plastic containers, Stick-Ups, floral wraps
& sleeves and enclosure cards, and integrated wonderfully with Faster-Form's
existing floral supply network. The firm’s Vincenza Flower
division - offering the preservation and custom design of individual flowers -
has now developed national brand recognition,
with a current network of 3,000 dealers expanding at a rate of nearly 100 per week. Imagineink Designs, an internally developed
technology that enables 4 color photographic quality printing on glass and
ceramics, was commissioned as a product line in 1999.
Diversification has continued. Last
year the Creative Acrylic Display division was added.
The original owner brought both the customer base, as well as their
expertise in the display design industry to Faster-Form Corporation in March of
2000. A few of the major customers for this division are Sun Glass
Hut, Dexter Shoes, and The Cooperstown Baseball Hall Of Fame.
Effective December of 2000, Faster-Form purchased Allwood, Inc., a
furniture quality wood products manufacturer from Boonville New York.
This acquisition preserved about 10 jobs, at the Boonville location, that
most likely would have moved out of state.
This new division not only brings manufacturing and personnel expertise
but also provides additional revenues created by its own product line. These two divisions add a totally new dimension to the
growing capabilities of Faster-Form Corporation.
The ability to combine glass, acrylic, and wood coupled with the design
and visual display fabrication expand the company’s products far beyond the
flower and gift markets. The only
limitation is, now truly, management’s imagination.
Faster-Form is currently analyzing the feasibility of building an
110,000-square-foot facility in Central New York, in anticipation of doubling
its workforce to 160 in the future.
(This
Website was created and designed by John C. Waszkiewicz IV.)
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