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“Fascinating” Wooster visit benefits Kiwi resellers. 18 October 2022

For ALMAX Sales and Marketing Manager Brett Bishop, and his wife Jessie, visiting The Wooster Brush Company in Wooster, Ohio was an unmissable opportunity. Brett says the one-on-one product training and chance to learn first-hand about new products and promotions was invaluable. “It’s knowledge and expertise we can now share.”
Brett even managed to squeeze in some time visiting local hardware stores to check-out the latest in Wooster displays. “They were very impressive!”
An industry world leader, the Wooster Brush Company was established in 1851 and is one of the oldest manufacturers of paint applicators in the USA. 
ALMAX has been a Wooster Brush Company distributor since 2017 this was Brett’s first opportunity to visit the heart of the operation. 
The company has over 888,000 square feet of manufacturing, shipping, administrative, and warehousing facilities. With 650 dedicated employees averaging 13 years of service each. 
They manufacturer everything from roller handles, paint trays, brushes, roller sleeves and extension poles. All manufacturing machinery has been purpose built by Wooster themselves. 
The paintbrush manufacturing process is meticulous. From manually laying out the correct mix of bristles, to tipping & flagging and gluing the ferrules. Every brush is checked at least twice in the process to make sure of consistent quality. 
Brett says he was fascinated not only by the sheer scale, but by the exacting standards.

“It was an amazing factory to go through. They’re a really quality manufacturer – very progressive and always innovating.”
He says it was also interesting to hear the rich history of the company, which has been on the same site for 170 years. “To go from the founder, Adam Foss, starting out manufacturing handmade hog bristles to 600-plus employees. That’s an achievement!” 
The Wooster Brush museum has a large collection of old memorabilia from early marketing campaigns to photos of their own company baseball team in 1922.