EAST LONGMEADOW – Play-Doh is coming back to East Longmeadow.

    In a move announced by Hasbro and Cartamundi, the companies are making plans to refurbish part of the existing factory in East Longmeadow in order to make Play-Doh.

    The renovation on the factory, when completed, will be used to distribute Play-Doh across the United States. East Longmeadow was chosen for the location of for production because Play-Doh has been manufactured there in the past.

    “East Longmeadow has produced Play Doh until 2004,” Chris Van Doorslaer, CEO of Cartamundi, told Reminder Publications. “So they have experience.”

    Construction on the Play-Doh production line is not set to begin until the end of this year, but the goal is to have the it finished so that Play-Doh production can begin in the summer of 2018.

    The year of 2018 is also when the hiring of employees will also be finalized. Supervisors, operators, and planners are the positions that will be needed when the factory is ready for Play-Doh production. There will also be temporary employees on the Play-Doh line to keep up with the demand for product production. According to a press release by Cartamundi, that will bring the total of employees working at the East Longmeadow facility to 480, with 50 of those positions being permanent for Play-Doh.

    According to Van Doorslaer, the temporary staff is needed “because of the cyclical nature of the games business.­”

    Cartamundi acquired the East Longmeadow facility in 2015.

    “We will be investing in the infrastructure, equipment, and people required to produce Play-Doh for Hasbro in our current facility located at 443 Shaker Road,” Jeffrey Lombard, CEO of Cartamundi East Longmeadow, told Reminder Publications.
    Thirty million Hasbro games are produced annually by employees in the East Longmeadow area including Monopoly, Operation, and Clue.

    While Cartamundi’s roots are in Belgium, they have been in the United States since 1994. They were based in Kingsport, TN from 1996 until 2008, when they moved to Dallas, TX.

    Cartamundi manufactures Hasbro’s products, because Hasbro sold their manufacturing division and now works with a variety of vendors and companies, including Cartamundi, to manufacture their products.­­