Tag Archives: Jim Knott Jr.

Consider the Lobster Trap. How a father-and-son manufacturing company clawed its way to the top

Riverdale Mills, a Massachusetts manufacturer that commands 85% of the U.S. market in its niche—lobster traps—has a dynamism and rich history that make it a good subject for this exercise. Riverdale Mills faces similar hurdles as corporations many times their size—tariffs, a soft market, a strong dollar, etc. (Plus, they have their own idiosyncratic hurdles, like when the lobster industry is on forced hiatus during right whale migration.),, James Knott Sr., was a polymath. His mind never rested, not even when he was fishing. A decorated Army veteran and a Harvard College grad, Knott Sr. invented several coatings while running his own manufacturing company, Coatings Engineering Corporation. Knott Sr. sold CEC in 1962, staying on as president and director. Finding himself with more free time, he took up lobster fishing in Gloucester, Massachusetts. >click to read< 07:30