It all started with a call last Monday afternoon. “This is probably going be the weirdest call you’ve received all day…” I said after introducing myself. I described our franchise, the Louisville Ghostbusters, to the man on the other end of the line. His name was Jim Coshnitzke; the Advertising Manager at Clippard Instrument Laboratory. As I explained the history of our franchise (officially since 2001) and told him of some of the things we’d done and the places we’d been, he began to open up more. I told him how important and recognizable their company is to the Ghostbusters community, and how their products were used on the original props in the movie, and are regularly purchased by people replicating them throughout the world. Jim explained how he was the point of contact for Mattel, and how he worked with them on permission to use their logo and the likeness of their products on the thrower. “Yeah, I have one in my office!” he added. I knew we were in. I told him that we would like to come to the factory and take a picture with their sign or logo to share within the Ghostbusters community. He said that would be fine, and that he would love to have us. I made some phone calls, and work schedules were altered. We hit the road, and arrived at Clippard yesterday around 1:45.
We suited up in the back corner of the parking lot, not knowing exactly what we were getting ourselves into. Once geared up, we walked to the door.
The rear corner of the building.
After being buzzed into the lobby, we were greeted by the receptionist, and signed the guestbook. We made a little small talk, and threw some quotes around. The usual. She said we’ve been expecting you, and handed us visitor badges, and Clippard branded safety glasses. Very cool.
We were then led up one side of a double staircase into one of their common work areas. One of the first things that catch your eye is a large Clippard clock, powered completely by pneumatics. It’s really impressive, and as each minute clicked away there was an audible “psssssh” of air, valves clicking, and components moving. You can see the rows of minimatic valves in the corner for size reference.
Over in the corner, there was a simple table set up with some various advertising materials and pamphlets, and most notably, a Matty thrower sitting ontop of its box. Jim showed us the thrower, told us about the project and how happy they were to be a part of it. We compared of our throwers to it for him to see how nice of a job they did.
Jim introduced us to every employee that we came across. Every one of them, by their first name. If we’d taken a picture with everyone he had us meet, we’d still be there. The whole gang is some of the nicest people you’ll meet.
They also had this really cool interactive timeline set up, from the inception of the company up to current times. There were some really cool pieces there, as you can see from the last couple of pictures above. Of course, we had to slide in right about 1984…
Jim continued to lead us down the hallway, showing us various decoration and memorabilia through the place, and telling us about the company itself. It was founded in 1941 there in Cincinnati by Leonard Clippard, whose son still works there today. They have always been family owned, and pride themselves on doing almost everything completely in house (both production and management). The Cincinnati facility is 85,000 square feet, and they have another 65,000 square foot facility not too far away. There is also another plant in Belgium that is comparable to the one in Cincinnati.
As we finished meeting the upstairs employees, Jim asked us if we were ready to see the factory. I think you all know our answer. As he led us down a couple of flights of stairs, we came to a pair of double doors. When he opened them, it was like seeing ■■■■■ Wonka’s chocolate factory sprawled out in front of you. It was truly overwhelming. Now some of the administrative staff knew we were coming, but I don’t think anyone in the factory area did. The amount of people that came over to meet us, take pictures, and find out what we were doing there was incredible. Once again we learned everyone’s first name, what they did there, how long they’d been there, and often times a little note about their GB fandom. Once again, a really stand up group of employees. Everyone was proud of the tenure, which was consistently more than a decade. It honestly seems like a wonderful place to work.
Jim continued to walk us around, showing us various pieces of machinery and assembly stations. He proudly said that each component is 100% assembled by hand, and tested at the workstations surrounding us. He also went on to explain how several of the machines there were actually built by them, in house, out of various Clippard components for the purpose of manufacturing completely different components! The whole place almost felt like a cross between a machine shop, and laboratory, and our own work benches at home where we like to build various contraptions and test them out. You could easily spend an entire day there playing with little machines built from the same vavles, fittings, and tubing that we all have on our packs.
As the day would down, one of the last stops we made was for an introduction to the current president of the company, Leonard Clippards son. He sprung out of his chair and hurried across his office to shake our hands, and make sure he got each of our first names right. A true professional and a gentleman. We thanked him over and over for their hospitality, and sang Jims praises. I can’t tell you how wonderful of a team they have there. We posed for one more picture with all of the tops dogs and we came back to the double staircase that we started at. What a ride!
Before we left, everyone that was still in the office (by now it was around 4:00) exchanged contact info with us for future purposes, and they even had a few parting gifts for us. No 331s or 701s, but we couldn’t have been happier with or more appreciative of the coffe mugs, keychains, stickers, glasses, and badges. They are now prized pieces of our collection, as memories of one of the coolest things we have done as a franchise.
I hope you all enjoyed the pictures, and now know that Clippard is grateful for every one of its employees and customers, and knows all about its place within the Ghostbusters community.
Be sure to check out our pages at the links below for more coverage, and Clippards Facebook page for some exclusive shots from their photographer. https://www.facebook.com/Clippard.Instrument.Laboratory?fref=ts
