In 1902, Charles Stevenson moved a company he bought, Eastman Machine, to the corner of Washington and Tupper in downtown Buffalo. At that time it was an industrial area in a prosperous city. Eastman is still there, still making cloth cutting machines, and now owns the entire block where the company started.

President Robert Stevenson remembers that he spent the summer at Eastman in the 1960s. There are factories with thousands of workers on the streets, and the industrial names are gradually disappearing: Trico, M. Wile, Courier-Express. Eastman still survived.

The founder of the company, George Eastman, came to Buffalo in 1886 from York, Ontario (now Toronto). He was attracted by Buffalo's power system.

"He was in the clothing industry and was an inventor. He invented the first portable small horsepower motor to drive the first electric cutting machine," Stevenson explained. "Also, he came to Buffalo in the 1880s because Buffalo was one of the first cities to be electrified. Obviously, he needed electricity to make machines and motors."

These motors are still manufactured in the factory, right down to the copper motor windings. The parts are still manufactured there, even the old machines, because some customers are still using them. Stevenson said Eastman was part of the industrial revolution, allowing large quantities of standardized clothing to be manufactured.

"Singer invented the sewing machine in the 1850s, which allowed people to make clothes really faster. However, there was no way to mass produce clothes because the tailoring was too laborious," Stevenson said. "They do have a company that can cut cloth, but it is done by hand. It is very laborious to do, which is why they call it a sweatshop because it is a very hard work. Therefore, the electric cloth cutting machine in 1880 What the era did was to create the ready-to-wear industry."

Today, the situation is different. Eastman not only cuts fabrics, it also cuts fabrics, including a variety of materials. The company has been involved in the aerospace, automotive, marine, furniture and leisure sports industries.

"We not only sell machines for cutting garment fabrics or wide cloths, cotton or nylon, but also composite materials, such as carbon graphite fibers that can be molded into shapes and used in the automotive and aerospace industries," Stevenson said.

In some respects, this is appropriate because the manufacturing of cutting machines is very high-tech. Eastman even has a software department to help run these machines.

Eastman must also deal with Chinese companies that steal Eastman’s intellectual property. Although the company has spent decades buying some parts from Asia, it is now re-supporting some of them. This is difficult when American suppliers are lost.

The big problem Eastman faces is finding workers, especially in the high-tech part of the manufacturing industry. Stevenson said the company’s long history helps attract employees. The chairman of the union has worked for Eastman for 43 years.

Executive Elizabeth McGruder, long-time vice president of marketing and European sales, agrees.

"I think the stability of a company dedicated to being established in Buffalo and run by the same family for so many years definitely provides a sense of peace and security, which you may not see in some fashions. The emerging new wave of companies," McGruder said.

Stevenson said that there are still people in this area who want these jobs to make high-paying jobs, and local schools and universities are beginning to realize this opportunity. He said Eastman is supporting the Northland training center and recruiting from there.

The company currently employs 150 people.

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