Manufacturing: C. Ralph Hinson, Tarason Labels Inc.

• Author: Eldridge. Lisa
• Position: Entrepreneur of the Year

Tarason Labels in Conover started out in 1983 making note pads for a Pennsylvania company - but founder Ralph Hinson scratched that product line quickly. "We started doing what we know better," he says. That's making labels.

Hinson launched Tarason while he was president of label maker Quality Southern in Newton. His idea was to make lower-priced labels at Tarason, but now it focuses on fancier lines, producing 55 million labels a month for the apparel and furniture industries. The...