A Comprehensive Product Line Was Developed

Production Would Be in Ohio to Maintain Tight Control

The decision was made to produce the majority of the Jumbo-Koter line in the Wooster Brush Company factories in Ohio. One of the reasons for this was to maintain tight control of the timing of the production. It was felt that manufacturing would have to keep up with distribution in order to maintain in-store inventories. Wooster Brush did not want any out-of-stock situations in the retail stores. The manufacturing facilities in Ohio were somewhat selfcontained, so that control could be managed more easily than with offshore manufacture and importing.

There were several reasons for not manufacturing any of the Jumbo-Koter line in China, even though inexpensive production was available there. First, Wooster Brush did not have any established roller -producing contacts in China. Management felt that working in an environment without established contacts could present potential quality problems. Second, paint rollers have a lot of air space, which increases the cost of shipping. This detracted from the advantages of Chinese production. Third, Wooster Brush management was worried about releasing the rights to use certain fabrics that were the exclusive property of the Wooster Brush Company.

A few unique roller covers were imported from Germany for the Jumbo-Koter product line. Management felt that it needed to offer these unique covers with a closed end (fabric on the end). This was to meet anticipated objections by a few current customers. The company had dealt with people in Germany before and had been comfortable with the consistency in quality from this organization.