MONTAGUE — MasterTag hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday afternoon at its Water Street headquarters to celebrate the beginning of construction of its new production facility, which it hopes is completed by fall 2025.
The facility, which will eventually replace the existing production building on Walsh Road, moved forward in June when Montague Township approved a 12-year 50% tax abatement for it. The new building, MasterTag says, will streamline production at the company.
MasterTag was purchased by Avery Products in 2022 but continues to operate out of its Montague buildings. At that time, facilities manager Chris Beck said the company was investing about $26 million into the expansion.
“Right now at Walsh, we’ve got incoming and outgoing through the same doors,” Beck said. “We are constantly moving product to make room for other product...Here, we’ll have raw material come in one door and it’s going to go in racks and then from the racks to the press from the press to die cut, die cut to converting, and converting to out the door.
“The streamlining, the cost savings alone on that, is huge.”
Several MasterTag higher-ups spoke at the ceremony, thanking past and present employees for helping the company get to the point it has now reached and outlining how the new building will improve its operations.
“It’s all right here, one campus, one team working together to strive for those new things that we all hope for for our customers,” senior director of commercial and administration Jennifer Dyer said in public remarks. “We are just tremendously excited about the speed that will bring to communication, the speed that will bring to problem solving together.”
“Anyone who works at our current facility knows that our process flow is not straight,” executive director of operations Julie Rice said in her own remarks. “We are not lean. We do not go from one step to the other and each of the steps of our process in a straight line. We work in a spaghetti string. We will no longer do that.”
MasterTag expressed pride in partnering with local companies on the new building’s construction. Winberg Construction, Boardwell Mechanical Services and Korthase & Sons are among the local businesses that will have a hand in bringing the facility to life.
Beck said “community helping community” has long been a staple of MasterTag, noting it’s a mindset that comes from the top down, as former owner and CEO Rick Hughes has long been a proponent of community involvement.
“You hear Rick talk, and I know it’s not technically his company anymore but he still treats it like his company,” Beck said. “He’s always been, whether it’s supporting the Boy Scouts, can drives, the local church, he just does so much for the community, and we wanted to get people in and talk to them and have local contractors. It’s huge for Rick, it’s huge for Julie and Jen, our senior directors. I’m not from this town, but I know the small town (atmosphere), and I know how important it is to have community.”
Beck noted the transition from the Walsh Road production facility to the new building will not happen overnight, because if all goes as planned the new building will be completed during the company’s busiest time of the year. There will be a transition phase as the move happens over time.
