Plasco
Plasco Building was a 17-story building located at the corner of the Istanbul junction in Tehran downtown. Constructed in 1962, the building was Iran's first high-rise modern construction. On January 17, 2016, an accidental fire started at the 8th and 9th floors, ended in the collapse of the iconic structure, 56 years after its inauguration. Plasco building was built by Habibollah Elghanian, the head of Tehran Jewish Society and owner of Plasco Company, Iran's largest plastic manufacturing factory. It is said that Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani, a prominent Shiite cleric, had expressed his objection over the construction of the high-rise by Iranian Jews. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the ownership of the building was handed to the Islamic Revolution Mostazafan Foundation. Plasco was named after Plasco Company, a producer of plastic and melamine goods.
www.jscenter.ir The building is considered the symbol of modernity and a luxurious lifestyle in Iran's contemporary history.
Habibollah Elghanian, also known as Haj Habib, was born in April 1912 in Tehran's Udlajan quarter in a Jewish family. In 1936, Haj Habib and his brothers established a business office in Sara-ye Ḥaj Moḥammad-Esmail in Tehran Grand Bazaar, where they started importing a wide range of goods from European countries and the United States including watches, textiles, radios, sewing machines, China ceramics, and dishware.
Plascokar Products
Nearly everything: melamine goods, plastic injection, blow molding extruded products, calendaring, PVC products, films,
Plastickar Company's Products
Beside combs, Plastickar used to produce jars, [plastic bags], and other plastic goods including slippers and galesh [traditional Iranian footwear]. They were not producing melamine goods. It was Elghanian who brought melamine [to the country]…then Farrokh Mahboobian (Fars Plastic Company), then Seyyed Ahmad Alavi (Pars Plastic Company). Mr. Alavi was a Muslim and Mr. Mahboobian was a Jew. Mahboobian used to produce sponge, film, and melamine goods. Azizollah Maghsoodi also remained in the business.
He had learned about the plastic industry during this trip. Later he persuaded his brothers to establish a factory to produce plastic goods in Iran. They inaugurated the PlascoKar Company in 1958.
The government in Iran suppressed domestic private sector businesses between 1921 and 1955, mostly under the influence of external imperialist policies.
National policies, implemented between 1951 and 1953, were mostly centered on fostering production capacity and self-sufficiency. However, the two-year period was too short to pave the grounds for the growth of private enterprises. The importance of this era was perceptible until many years after the 1953 coup.
Domestic enterprises experienced prosperity and growth from the mid-1960s to 1978. Local authorities were extremely enchanted over their miraculous economic and industrial achievements, though local industries had their deficiencies at the time.
The industrial growth of the above mentioned period a step forward for the economy as it created more jobs, lifted the country's national income, introduced the modern industrial culture, and equipped managers with modern and scientific methods of administration. However, industries were not self-sufficient, especially those involved in montaging. These enterprises were major consumers of foreign currencies, to import raw material and half-produced parts.
The plastic industry was growing, hand in hand with other sectors. Plascokar Company was taking the lead. It worth mentioning that the owners of the factory stayed in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, unlike many others who preferred to flee.
Haji Barkhordar was known as the father of Iran's home appliance industry. He was the founder of Toshiba Company in Iran. He was the one who introduced modern home appliances to Iranian society in the early 1970s, including Television sets which were produced by Pars Electric.
The story of Plascokar is a key part of the history of the plastic industry in Iran. The industry remained dominated by the private sector even after the Islamic revolution. Despite the post-revolution jump in the number of small enterprises from dozens to thousands of industrial units, no plastic factory became as giant as PlascoKar. Major market players agreed to merge to accelerate their growth and enlarge their market size.
The plastic industry in Iran has had no state-run supervisory body. Consequently, the sector has not been backed by a supportive authority who could help pave the path for the growth of the industry or develop a long-term perspective for fostering the business of producers of plastic goods. Despite the considerable demand for plastic goods in regional markets, including Iraq, Afghanistan; Central Asian states; and most probably Syria in near future, the industry has had no practical strategy to dominate the above-mentioned markets.
To know more about Plasco Company, prior to the establishment of PlascoKar we interviewed Iraj Mansourbakht and Morteza Erfani, both were working at Plasco Company at the time.
Acrylic scrap were among the earliest examples of Iran-made plastic products. These were brought to the country by American troops mainly for repairing and replacing cockpit glass windows.
Acrylic was newly invented and introduced to the market the time…it was used to cover aircraft windows instead of glass because it has a higher impact strength than glass and does not shatter when exposed to high strains…using the scraps and edges of acrylic sheets we used to create various products such as watch frames and jewelry boxes.
Finally, in 1963, Plastickar and Plasco factories were established at the current location under the name of Plascokar.
[As mentioned before] The Plasco building is known as a symbol of a luxurious lifestyle in the contemporary history of Iran. This was, in fact, a period of transition; from traditions to modernity; from dark cells and corridors of traditional bazaars to eye-catching and colorful stores and shopping centers. The construction of the landmark building, undoubtedly, marked the beginning of an era of luxury in the country.
Aziz Maghsoudi is one of the prominent figures of Iran's plastics industry, a producer and exporter of melamine goods with a long list of achievements. Prior to the formation of Plascokar Company, he was working for Leon Sarhaddian and his partners. Maghsoudi was also a labor activist before the 1979 Revolution, which later became a reason for leaving his job at PlascoKar. We were workers at Plastickar Company in Rey City [located in southeast Tehran] until 1963. When the two companies merged, the site in Rey was turned to a shoe producing company and all the workers were sent to a new site located in Karaj Old Road [currently known as Fath Expressway] where Plascokar Saipa Company is located now. Plascokar used to produce a limited range of plastic goods, such as combs…The two teams of founders (Elghanian brothers, who were Jewish, and Sarhaddian and his partners who were Armenian Christians) always had a conflict.
It was in 1963 when Plasco and Plastickar were merged and we came to Karaj Road.
The country's political sphere was host to new movements as of 1968.
Ebrahim Towfiqi was a colleague of mine working at the repair department of Plascokar. A rivalry was shaped between us. Plascokar had 1,200 workers, three of them were selected to represent workers.
My job [at PlascoKar] was not as intense as before, [but] I had to earn more and therefore I worked harder. In 1968, I became the supervisor of the molding unit.
A man named Soren was the head of the molding and technical department. They used to make molds with portraits of Shah and Farah [Shah's wife] on them, to be used for producing melamine goods. I was asked to supply the market with these products. I was sabotaging. They informed the owners.
At the same time, Mr. Rafie Ariyeh (Tehran Production Factory) offered me a job at his factory. They had brought brand-new machinery from England and wanted me to launch a melamine production unit.
I rejected the offer. I said I could not accept the offer as long as I work for Plascokar…joining a rival company was a kind of betrayal to the factory where I had learned the job.
Having Ariyeh's offer in my mind, I started a small lathe workshop of my own at Azari Neighborhood in Tehran. This was the time when they managed to disqualify me due to my labor activities. I was fired from Plascokar with very bad memories.
[I remember] He asked me to make this melamine plate, called plate 417. He asked me to make the plate with portraits on them.
I was bankrupt. The promissory notes were deferred. I was experiencing enormous financial hardship.
I used to work as a taxi driver at night and my days were spent at my workshop. He [Ariyeh] gave me a picture of the Kaaba. Ariyeh asked me to make a melamine plate decorated with a shiny picture of God's house on it.
I was thinking…I was making molds with portraits of Shah and his wife in Plascokar, and now I was asked to put this holy image on a plate, to make a decent combination. He said how much do you get for the job? I offered him to pay once the job was finished. I had no money, I did everything on credit.
Why? We were surrounded by a revolutionary atmosphere. I among the very first people who traveled from Italy to Paris and then to Nofel Loshato [where Imam Khomeini was residing before the Islamic Revolution]. Not a revolutionary, but I loved to know what the path was. I also met Imam Khomeini.
Ghazaal: You experienced working for three major manufacturers, namely Elghanian, Sarhaddian, and Ariyeh.
Elghanian was the strongest one, in terms of the output. However, Ariyeh managed to make outstanding growth. His factory was a producer of films and melamine goods. Giant factories used to produce a wide range of products, as there were a limited number of players in the market. They used to launch new production units inside their factory sites, whenever they recorded a drop in revenues.
Ghazaal: What are the names of plastic manufacturers before the revolution?
These three factories set the industry in motion. The whole industry has taken roots out of these factories. But there were other producers as well, such as Ebadi, and Eghdamian.
Mr. Khosravi and Mr. Kamilian were working as Plascokar's sellers. Mr. Khosravi is still alive but Mr. Komeilian has passed away. They launched Zarrin Melamine in Semnan Province.
Undoubtedly, Plascokar was the first modern factory in Iran's plastic industry. In Iran. The public often associates Plascokar with the Habib Elghanian...Those that are more familiar with the industry associate the company with Elghanian brother. However, they owned half of the factory's stacks and the other half was owned by Leon Sarhaddian and his partners. (Interview with Mr. Maghsoudi)
Plascokar was formed from the merger of two companies Plastickar and Plasco. In my opinion, the history of molding could be put into two periods, before Mr. Vartanian and after Mr. Vartanian. Mr. Pahlevan was always praising Vartanian's works, he used to say that paying for Vartanian work is more like an investment rather than cost. Also in terms of quality, I found products of Mr. Qomi, under the brand name of 'Yazd Gol', of high quality and in accord with standards, (Interview with Mohammad Bakhtiari)
In this oral research and field study, I specifically focused on similarities in respondents' answers based on their date of birth.
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