Mapleton native enjoying role at Smith & Wesson
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
HOULTON — Sometimes things just have a way of working out better than anyone could ever expect.
That is precisely what happened for Mapleton native Scott Allen.
Allen replaced Terry Wade this past summer as the plant manager for Smith & Wesson, becoming just the third person to hold that title in the Houlton facility. Wade officially retired from his position on May 5, but remained with the company as a consultant.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
AT THE HELM — Scott Allen of Easton is the new plant manager for Smith & Wesson in Houlton following the retirement of Terry Wade this past summer. Allen has been with the company in Houlton since 1997.
Back in 1992, Allen graduated from the University of Maine at Orono with an engineering degree in coal-fired power plants. Unable to find employment in the state, Allen landed a job in Worcester, Mass. Through a “friend of a friend,” Allen was contacted by John Fitzpatrick, then-plant manager for Smith & Wesson in Houlton, who asked if he was interested in a job.
“At that time, I didn’t really know that Smith & Wesson even had a location here in Houlton,” he said. “They were looking for an engineer to join the company, work in the Springfield, Mass. facility for a couple of years and then move to Houlton. I set up an interview, walked in, and the man who would become my boss asked me ‘Do you want to live in Houlton, Maine?’ I answered ‘Yes’ and they said ‘You’re hired.’”
Once that part of the equation was out of the way, Allen was asked what he could bring to the Smith & Wesson family.
“My background was in thermal dynamics/fluid mechanics, which had absolutely nothing to do with making handguns,” Allen said. “But they saw enough in me, and gave me the training I needed. It worked out really well.”
Allen said spending a couple of years in Springfield afforded him the opportunity to learn more about the ways Smith & Wesson designs and produces its world-renowned line of products. The job was a perfect opportunity for Allen since it came with the promise of relocating back home to northern Maine.
“After I graduated college, my wife Rebecca gave me five years to get her back home,” Allen said.
In 1997, his dream became a reality as he was transferred to the Smith & Wesson plant in Houlton as a product design engineer. Before his arrival in Houlton, all product design engineering had to be done in Springfield as there were no qualified individuals on site.
He later became operations manager and once Wade retired in May, Allen was chosen as plant manager.
“Terry has been a great asset for me,” Allen said. “In the last five or six years, we kind of knew what was going to happen. He wanted to get this plant into a position where he could pass the torch over to me. I was basically the No. 2 guy under Terry. I couldn’t have asked for a better leader and role model.”
Smith & Wesson opened a manufacturing facility on the Bangor Road in 1966 and moved to the Houlton Industrial Park in 1979. In 1980, handcuff production began and the Houlton facility shipped its first finished products. The Model 422 .22-caliber pistol launched production in 1986 and in 1992, the premiere target pistol — Model 41 — came to Houlton.
The facility runs three shifts, five days a week, 24-hours a day. Some shifts operate on a seven-day a week schedule. With the increased production came the need for greater space and in 1994, the plant was doubled in size to 36,000 square feet. The Walther PPK handgun began being produced in Houlton in 2001 and in 2008, production began on the “Metal Pistol” line that includes 1911 45 ACP pistols, as well as the 9mm pistols 40 Smith & Wesson and 45 ACP that are used by many law enforcement agencies around the country and Canada.
When the airport facility opened in 1979, there were 29 employees. Today, there are more than 150.
The production of Smith & Wesson products has evolved considerably, based on the technological advances in computers. As the plant manager, Allen’s biggest responsibility is meeting production goals on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. The flagship pistol at Houlton’s facility is the 1911 E-series, which was the featured on the cover of Guns and Ammo Magazine in March 2011.
Allen said he is hopeful that expansion to the company’s 36,000-square-foot building will occur in the future to accommodate a growing need.
“We have seen huge growth since coming here in 1997,” he said. “Brand loyalty is huge for Smith & Wesson.”
Allen, his wife Rebecca and two daughters Alexandra and Elise reside in Easton.
