When Don and Carol Barlund started Falcon Plastics in 1975, they had one location, three presses, and a single customer. Nearly five decades later, the company is celebrating 50 years in business — and nearing $100 million in sales, with a global footprint that spans from Suzhou, China to Monterey, Mexico.
But as Jenn Barlund, the third-generation leader of Falcon Plastics, will tell you, growth hasn’t come at the expense of the company’s original family feel. Maintaining that tight-knit culture while modernizing the business has taken intentionality, but Barlund believes it’s been critical to Falcon’s success.
“It takes a lot of intentionality,” Barlund acknowledged in a recent episode of the Manufacturing Executive podcast. “I think for us, we’ve been really blessed with a lot of our employees. I think the average tenure right now, I don’t think I know, is 10 years of employment for Falcon Plastics. We had someone retire last year who had been here 47 years.”
You have people who have worked for Don, worked for the second generation, and now are working for the third generation. And so they’ve seen the business evolve, and I think, well, we all have the same morals and values. If your employee base embodies that as well, it makes it a lot easier to carry that forward.
That people-first philosophy isn’t just lip service at Falcon. Barlund and her team have made significant investments in employee well-being, from a fitness center to healthy snacks to regular recognition programs. Transparency is also a core value; quarterly meetings share detailed financials and strategic direction with the entire staff.
The goal, Barlund says, is not just to do right by Falcon’s people, but to empower them to do their best work. “One of the biggest things we focus on here is really letting people do their jobs,” she explained. “We hired them to do it. Let them do it, let them make decisions. You know, if they’re not the right decisions, then we have a conversation about it, but let them learn and grow.”
That growth mindset extends to Falcon’s approach to operational excellence as well. The company has made major investments in automation, robotics, and quality control in pursuit of what Barlund calls “world-class moulding.” But even as Falcon pushes the envelope technologically, the focus remains on the human impact.
I want to change the fact that a lot of kids or maybe parents tell kids, like, manufacturing is dark and dingy, don’t go into that. Oh man, but there’s so much cool stuff we’re doing here. There’s so much automation and robotics and things that just, I think, a lot of kids would be really interested in.
As a female leader in a male-dominated industry, Barlund is no stranger to doubts and dismissive comments. But she’s chosen to use them as fuel rather than discouragement. Today, Falcon’s executive team is primarily women — a rarity in the plastics world, but a reflection of the legacy of Barlund’s grandfather, who championed women in the workplace long before it was fashionable.
Looking ahead, Barlund’s goal is to keep changing perceptions of what manufacturing looks like and who it’s for. While Falcon’s growth is a point of pride, it’s the company’s commitment to its people — employees and customers alike — that truly sets it apart.
“We’re at this point of being this big competitor in the space, especially in blow moulding too, because there’s less competition there,” Barlund reflected. “So we’re just pushing to be this world-class moulder, I think, and provide our customers with a different experience than they can get at other moulders, which is not easy to do, because it’s a pretty saturated market.”
If the last 50 years are any indication, Falcon Plastics is up for the challenge — and poised to keep scaling with soul.
To learn more about Falcon Plastics and its people-first approach to world-class moulding, visit www.FalconPlastics.com. Doors are always open for tours and questions.
