Who Is Beth Williams, U.S. Toner Remanufacturer At Roxbury Technology

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Who Is Beth Williams, U.S. Toner Remanufacturer At Roxbury Technology Corp.
By Megan Woolhouse

Beth Williams and her manufacturing business are at a turning point. Last winter, the roof of her company, Roxbury Technology Corp. in Hyde Park, collapsed under heavy snow, causing millions of dollars in damage and forcing her to lay off nearly half of her 25-person workforce. She has found a temporary facility, but the future is uncertain for the maker of toner cartridges. Williams talked about Roxbury Technology’s past, present, and future.

1. At the height of business, Roxbury Technology had $16 million in sales and employed 75 people making and selling rebuilt and recycled toner cartridges for laser printers, fax machines, and copiers. Those cartridges are priced as much as 40 percent less than new toner cartridges, many made overseas. Williams said she is bewildered that more local companies and government agencies don’t take advantage of their ability to buy directly and at lower cost from her home-grown business.

“Why buy your cartridges from Mexico when you can buy them here?” she said. “It’s a pet peeve. I’ve had minimal government business.”

2. Williams’s father, Archie, started the business in Boston. A civil rights attorney and founder of several firms, he dedicated his life to the belief that communities of color needed to create their own jobs and their own economic development for people to become self-sufficient. He was also a pioneer in the toner recycling business. Williams keeps footage of her roof’s collapse from surveillance cameras on her phone. It shows the ceiling suddenly breaking away and flattening the factory floor, leaving a dusty mountain of debris.

“We’re going to recover. But whether we go back into the toner [cartridge] business, I don’t know.”

3. In Massachusetts, home to about 7,000 manufacturing companies, she is one of the state’s few — if not the only — female African-American manufacturing chief executive. Many manufacturers complain of labor shortages, but Williams said she gets calls every day from people who want jobs. The key is to find ways the help them get the skills they need to work in manufacturing.

“There’s been a lot of attention paid to the Gateway Cities, but little attention to the inner city unemployment. I’m talking about folks who want jobs and have kids, even kids in college. We’ve got the people, we can train them.”

4. Williams’s contract with her biggest customer, office-supply retailer Staples Inc. of Framingham, ends next year. Although it may be extended, she is talking with city officials, as well as state Labor Secretary Ron Walker, about the creation of a center that could train inner city workers for jobs that manufacturers around the state desperately need to fill.

“To me, it’s a no-brainer. The city gives businesses like ours government contracts, you decrease unemployment, you increase sales and the tax base, and it all happens within your community. It’s something I feel passionate about.”

5. Williams, 50, survived a brain aneurysm diagnosed in 2005.

“After something like that, I say God has me here for a reason. This is a chance for me to step back and think about what is really going to be my next phase.”

[Author]

June 9, 2015 at 12:17 PM