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Forenta observed its 62nd anniversary on Wednesday, not an odd year at all for a celebration, considering the circumstances.

“Covid messed us up on 60. The great recession messed us up on 50, so I decided let’s just have a celebration and have an anniversary,” Forenta President and CEO Rusty Smith said to the guests invited into the company warehouse during morning hours.

The low-volume, high-variety equipment manufacturer hosted a Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce membership breakfast, well attended by Chamber members.

“This is a great place,” 2023 Chamber Chair John McClellan said. “It’s one of the hidden secrets of Morristown, I believe. I grew up on Collins Street, I remember the tobacco barn over here, Putt across the street. Now retail has grown up around you. But you’re a world-wide company. If you go on a cruise ship, there are materials on board that were made here in Morristown …. It’s amazing to see what all’s made right here and we see it worldwide. It’s just truly a blessing to have a business like this; it’s one of the core businesses that just makes our town stronger. We really appreciate you all being here and having this event.”

Smith added, “If you’ve taken a tour of a cruise ship, you’ve seen our product in their laundry, pressing linens, towels and anything they need pressed. We’ve been here since 1961 and been manufacturing in this building that was two-thirds of what it is now.”

The comprehensive history of the company goes back to 1928.

Harry Forse, who lived in Anderson, Indiana, described by Smith as a tinkerer and entrepreneur, started building products. He began with bicycle speedometers and gas space heaters, then settled on pressing equipment.

“Business was decent through the 1930s; his big break came when he scored a government contract in the 1940s, during the war, to put presses on carrier ships and military bases,” Smith said.

In the 1950s, Harry’s son, Don Forse, an engineer, got into the business and spurred innovation. As a result, the business flourished.

“They flourished so well that the auto workers unionized the plant which caused some friction,” Smith said. “By 1960, company employees were on strike.”

A young R. Jack Fishman, who was leading the Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce, and two industrial development board members were visiting the state on a recruiting effort.

“Jack and the industrial board had a lot of foresight for our community,’ Smith said. “They saw that we needed to be a more diverse than just furniture, tobacco and chicken processing. Fortunately, Jack came across the Forse Manufacturing Company the day they were on strike. It wasn’t even on their list of stops to make. Jack convinced them to stop the vehicle and he went in and got to talk to Don himself. Jack left his card. Fast-forward a few months and Jack is in his office at the Chamber and gets a surprise visit from Don Forse himself, who asked, ‘Jack, what can you do for me?’”

“So that started the wheels turning. This building that we’re in was partially occupied by Walters Machine Shop. Jack worked out a deal with the shop,” Smith said.

As a result of Fishman’s deal, a new company was formed, later to be named Forenta after ownership changes. The first presses came off the line in the summer of 1961, with the sole purpose of building press equipment for the Forse company which kept its headquarters in Anderson, Ind.

“What’s incredible about this story – a testament to what a good place Morristown is to live – there were eight men who uprooted their families to move here and establish the new company. I don’t think any of the eight regretted moving here; they had very successful careers here. Two remaining, one of which is Jerry Rose, the other is Nick Watkins.”

The late Bill North, chief engineer for Forse, also made the move to Morristown in 1960 and was part owner and president of the new company. He served many roles in the community including Ambassador at Large for the Chamber.

Statistics revealed at the celebration include:

Forenta pressing equipment is located in 100 of the 193 countries recognized worldwide by the United Nations.

“So our products are in over half the countries across the globe,” Smith said.

Vice President of Global Sales, Craig Forsey has been to over 60 countries representing Forenta and selling Forenta products.

“Our equipment is not just a fastener, it’s not just a bolt or a nut,” Smith said, it’s large pieces of equipment, and since 1961 we’ve built 170,000 pieces of equipment as of a few weeks ago.

The average tenure of Forenta employees is 26 years. The combined experience of its 42 employees totals 948 years.

“Yes, it’s a great place to work, it’s a great place to make a living,” Smith said. He recognized Ruth Feico, sales administrator, for being the longest tenured employee – “48 years and she’s still working,” Smith said. Tracy Lamb, set to retire the following day, was recognized for 46 years of service, placing him in the No. 2 slot. Smith also recognized Leland ‘Lee’ White, the longest tenured company president – 25 years, and former president Jerry Rose.

“We’re in dry cleaners, commercial laundries, hotels, military bases; we’re on aircraft carriers, cruise ships, in clothing stores, church temples, prison laundries, coin laundries, food processing plants, hospitals and entertainment venues. Forenta has its footprint across the globe from right here in Tennessee,” Smith said.

“Economist Adam Smith surmised that a country builds wealth if it manufactures or it farms. I am proud to say that Forenta has been creating wealth for its employees and the town of Morristown since 1961. We ship things out all over the globe and when machines go out, money comes back right here to Morristown. We support a lot of local industries: machine shops, laser shops, powder coat industries, so, yes, our reach goes out a long way,” he said.

Smith explained the definition of a low-volume, high variety equipment manufacturer.

“We are quite different from an automotive company that cranks a product out by the thousands every day. And because of that every one of our employees (plant, sales, engineering, and customer service) have to be so skilled in a lot of different models, a lot of different situations.”

“Our customer service department can fix any machine. We have skilled electrical, mechanical and safety engineers. Our employees work on very dangerous equipment. Our employees in the plant are experienced in metal fabricating and welding – they have to know mig weld, tig weld; some are ASME certified welders: they had to pass a really stringent test. These are very skilled employees. I could brag on our employees and our company all day long,” Smith said.