Lenox celebrates 100 years of innovation

Lenox invites media to tour headquarters and talk about the past 100 years.

Lenox 1 — Lenox's 600,000-sq.-ft., ISO 9001-certified headquarters located in East Longmeadow, Mass.

Lenox 2 — **Bill Burke**, Newell Rubbermaid chief operating officer and group president of tools, talks about Lenox's 100 years of innovation and how “passion cuts through.” He credits the success of the past and the future to the team work of all the employees.

Lenox 3 — **Matt Lacroix**, Newell Rubbermaid director of brand marketing for tools, talks about the begining of Lenox.

Lenox 4 — **Lee “Hackman” Brenton** cut through the door and made a surprise guest appearance.

Lenox 5 — Everyone who works at Lenox gets their name on a block and gets to take that block home after as a memento.

Lenox 6 — The event included a tour of the 600,000-sq.-ft. headquarters and a demonstration of various Lenox tools.

Lenox is celebrating 100 years of design and innovation. Founded in 1915 as Lenox American Saw, the company started as a hacksaw blade manufacturer with a 10-employee team. Today it is a global brand employing more than 900 people and selling products in more than 70 countries.

In keeping with their passion for innovation, Lenox has introduced a variety of new products in 2015. These products include the Gold Power Arc Curved Reciprocating Saw Blades, Cast Master XL Band Saw Blades and the CircTech Precision CM200, with more releases to come.

To celebrate the past century of innovation, the company is running a number of promotional activities with distributor partners and end users throughout 2015 and in September will host a Centennial Celebration for employees and customers at its headquarters in East Longmeadow, Mass.

In addition to the above activities, Lenox also hosted media-only event which included a “100 years of innovation” presentation — in which Lee “Hackman” Brenton made a surprise guest appearance, a new products pitch, a tour of its 600,000-sq.-ft., ISO 9001-certified headquarters and interviews with Lenox staff, including Bill Burke, Newell Rubbermaid chief operating officer and group president of tools.

“We are always thinking about how we can build/give our end-users more capabilities with the products that we provide,” Burke said. “We ask ourselves: how do we make it easier for them to do their job; how can we make it more cost-effective for them; can it be faster, better quality, can they do it with greater ease, so they don’t have to apply as much. It’s all about continuing to innovate — it never stops.”

Burke also talked about the benefits of being acquired by Newell Rubbermaid — the money and how it has allowed investment in consumer insights being a big factor.

“One of the things we are passionate about is finding solutions to problems contractors didn’t even know they had,” added Rich Mathews, Newell Rubbermaid senior vice president of tools. “Our team will go out of its way to make sure you don’t fail, whether you’re a member of our team or an end-user.”

“Contractors can expect continued innovation around our core categories,” said Matt Lacroix, Newell Rubbermaid director of brand marketing for tools. “We are spending a lot of time trying to develop new technologies that will ultimately give you a higher-performing product.”

Nadia Askar is the former group multimedia editor for BNP Media’s Plumbing Group. She was responsible for leading the direction of the brand’s digital and social presence by ensuring the brand websites and social media outlets are consistently updated, and interacting with readers and followers.