Sherrill Manufacturing facts for kids

Sherrill Manufacturing, Inc. (SMI), also known by its brand name Liberty Tabletop, is a company that makes forks, spoons, and knives, which are called flatware or cutlery. It is located in Sherrill, New York, in the United States. The company began in 2005. That's when Matt Roberts and Greg Owens bought the factory and equipment from their previous employer, Oneida Limited, after Oneida stopped making things there. Today, Sherrill Manufacturing sells its flatware and other home items directly to customers under the Liberty Tabletop brand.

Company History and Growth

Starting Up After Oneida

For more than 100 years, Sherrill, New York, was the main home of Oneida Limited. Oneida was once the biggest maker of flatware in the world. However, in the early 2000s, it became harder for Oneida to compete with companies in Asia that made products for less money. Because of this, Oneida decided to move its manufacturing overseas in 2004. They announced they would close their factory in Sherrill, which meant many people would lose their jobs.

Gregory Owens and Matthew Roberts, who both used to work for Oneida, decided to buy the factory. They paid $1 million for it. In May 2005, the day after Oneida stopped working at the Sherrill plant, Owens and Roberts reopened it. They started their new company, Sherrill Manufacturing, Inc., with a smaller team of workers. Gregory Owens is now the CEO, and Matthew Roberts is the president.

Challenges and Changes

For the next three years, Sherrill Manufacturing continued to make silver flatware for Oneida Limited. They had a special agreement and about 160 workers. In 2008, this agreement was extended for two more years. This new deal also allowed Sherrill Manufacturing to make flatware for other companies.

However, the company faced tough times during an economic slowdown in the mid-2000s. Their sales dropped by more than half. By 2010, when their contract with Oneida ended, Sherrill Manufacturing was in serious financial trouble.

To get back on track, the owners had to make big changes. In late 2010, they temporarily stopped making products. They reduced their staff to only six full-time employees. They also sold extra equipment and inventory. They sold their very large factory building and then rented back only a part of it. By November 2013, Sherrill Manufacturing had recovered from its financial difficulties.

New Business Model: Liberty Tabletop

After these changes, Sherrill Manufacturing started a new way of doing business. They began selling their flatware directly to customers under the brand name Liberty Tabletop. In June 2014, the company moved its government and contract manufacturing work from a plant in Mexico back to the Sherrill factory. This helped them increase their workforce to 42 people. They also changed from making products only every six weeks to making them every day.

By 2015, Sherrill Manufacturing had more than four times the number of workers they had before. They planned to add 20 more jobs by 2016. Today, they make several different types of flatware under their Liberty Tabletop brand. These include SMI USA, Sherrill Home, Sherrill Heritage, and Sherrill Lux. All of their flatware is made in their factory in Sherrill, New York.

The company now mostly sells its products online. They focus on customers who want products made in the USA. By selling directly to customers, they can offer their products at better prices. This is because they don't have the extra costs that come from selling through traditional stores. Their products are sold on websites like Amazon and Wayfair, as well as on their own Liberty Tabletop website.

Sherrill Manufacturing also sells about 500,000 utensils each year to the United States government. These are mainly used at American military bases around the world.

In 2016, a government investigation found that 11 other companies that claimed to make flatware in the U.S. were actually making it overseas. This meant that Liberty Tabletop was the only flatware brand truly made in the United States.

In May 2016, Sherrill Manufacturing was chosen to provide all the flatware for the restaurants in the newly renovated Hotel Syracuse. This hotel is now known as the Marriott Syracuse Downtown.

In 2020, sales of Liberty Tabletop flatware doubled. This happened because more people were eating at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales increased even more in 2021, going up by another 50% compared to the year before. As of December 2021, all the steel used in Liberty Tabletop flatware comes from Western New York state, Pittsburgh, and Tennessee. The packaging for their products is also made locally.

Media Appearances

Featured on TV Shows

Sherrill Manufacturing's Liberty Tabletop flatware has been shown on several TV programs.

• On July 5, 2012, it was featured on the Today Show. This segment highlighted "the hottest housewares made in America."
• The History Channel's show, Modern Marvels, featured Sherrill Manufacturing on March 10, 2010. The episode was called "Chrome." The show chose the company to explain how stainless steel flatware is made.
• The Discovery Channel's show, How It's Made, also featured Sherrill Manufacturing. In its eleventh episode of season 13, the show explained how stainless steel flatware is created by looking at the company's processes.
• ABC's Shark Tank featured a segment about Coffee Joulies on January 11, 2013. Sherrill Manufacturing produces these items. The creators of Coffee Joulies received an investment on the show.

News Articles

Sherrill Manufacturing has also been mentioned in news reports.

• ABC World News had a "Made in America Series." This series helped customers understand how to tell the difference between companies that claim to make items in the United States and those that actually do.
• The New York Times published an article. It explained how Liberty Tabletop, a brand of Sherrill Manufacturing, earned the right to say it was the only flatware maker in the U.S. that truly made its products in America.