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BUSINESS
Despite economy, Rubberlite looking to expand
HUNTINGTON -- At age 61 and having either worked for or consulted probably 100 companies throughout her life, Nancy Leifheit has picked a favorite to finish her career.
Three years ago, she left her home in Phoenix and job as a software consultant with Epicor, for a company here in Huntington, Rubberlite Inc.
"I was their consultant for two years and was extremely impressed with the type of company that they are," Leifheit said of Rubberlite, which makes engineered foam for a variety of products. "It's a great company. If I could identify any company where I could come and finish my career, I could never have asked for another company like this. You get up every morning and absolutely love coming to work."
Not only that, but the company is bucking some national trends. While keeping jobs domestic, it's also expanding at a time when most companies are in a holding pattern, said Rubberlite founder and CEO J. Allen Mayo.
Rubberlite is planning a 52,000-square-foot expansion, which will bring the company's total square footage to about 300,000, Mayo said.
"We're upgrading our current manufacturing process and adding some new equipment to our existing operation," Mayo said. "And we're installing a new operation process for a new patent-pending product we've developed. This technology has the capability to revolutionize the industry."
With some help from the state of West Virginia and some aggressive bankers with J.P. Morgan Chase, the company will have the space and working capital to be poised for growth. The expansion is designed to increase revenues by 50 percent over the next three to five years, Mayo said.
It will have a large focus on international sales. The company -- headquartered on Guyan Avenue and 25th Street -- already has sales offices in Allentown, Pa., and Phoenix, but is opening another in Munich, Germany.
"We generally like to do this during periods of recession," Mayo said of the expansion. "We believe the deeper the recession, the more spectacular the recovery. We want to be ahead of the competition when the economy recovers."
Rubberlite manufactures engineered rubber and plastic foams that supply a variety of industries -- automotive, electronic, appliance, aerospace, medical and health care, footwear, sporting goods, military and equestrian. Its foam is not the finished product but is used in finished products such as sleep apnea masks, knee braces and the finishing pads used for painting automobiles, to name a few.
It ships to 40 countries around the world and strives to make sure that no one industry makes up more than 10 percent of its total revenue.
Its aim, which it publishes prominently on its company literature, is to aggressively grow the company by "meeting or exceeding customer requirements, developing innovative products and processes, while continually improving the levels of safety, quality, service, training, personal development and profit," Mayo said.
He and Rubberlite's chief financial officer, Paul Testani, said the state was a big help in their plans to move the business forward.
The West Virginia Certified Development Corporation approved in June two loans for Rubberlite -- a loan of $1,443,000 to finance land and building adjacent to its current facility, and $915,000 to finance equipment to be used in its operations.
The West Virginia Certified Development Corporation is a public, nonprofit corporation operated by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, formed to package, close and service Small Business Administration 504 program loans.
The state, out of the governor's office, is providing capital for the equity of the entire project. Gov. Joe Manchin came to Rubberlite last year to talk about the plans for growth, Mayo said.
In all, the state has a $3 million share, Testani said.
Rubberlite expects its current total of 130 employees to increase by as many as 30 in the next three to five years.
The people make the business, Mayo said. Because it's a leader in its industry, it's able to hire an effective of mix of strong employees from the Tri-State and from throughout the United States.
The vice president of marketing is from South Bend, Ind. The technical director is from Toledo, for a couple of examples.
And yet, the Mayo as the CEO and Michael Strickland as the vice president of sales are two of the company's original three employees. They, along with Beverly Davis -- who also still works with Rubberlite -- were the first three to work at the company back when Mayo founded it in 1987, with just 8,000 square feet.
As a Huntington native, he's glad he's been able to keep his company here. It's a great location for the business, which sends products all over the country as well as internationally, and it's a great place to raise a family, he said.
Rubberlite can lead the industry right from here, he said.
"I'm always reminding our people that somebody in the world is going to be doing it -- why not us?" he said.
