From the President

Chris Buhlmann Gates Corporation Could 2022 come soon enough? I can speak from experience in saying that the strain put on people in the procuring of material, building to meet increased demand and dealing with inflation rates that have not been this rapid in a decade has made for quite the year. And that does not even take into account “He Who Should Not Be Named” (COVID-19).

The transition from one year to the next is something we humans make up. The universe keeps spinning or moving like it is just another day.

This means that our supply chain challenges will continue as we transition from December 31 to January 1, while we hope they abate. Also continuing are the pressures of delivery and maintaining quality in how we check incoming supply of raw or WIP goods, complete production and send them on to their final customer destination.

In this issue, we provide some insight to potentially help you work with current and emerging supply chain issues, as well as product liability and tax impacts. Running a business and/or enterprise is a demanding occupation, and you are in business because your solutions solve problems affecting the market.

“THE TRANSITION FROM ONE YEAR TO THE NEXT IS SOMETHING WE HUMANS MAKE UP. THE UNIVERSE KEEPS SPINNING OR MOVING LIKE IT IS JUST ANOTHER DAY.”

We hope this issue helps you gain some ideas to solve problems that you may be discussing in your production meetings, supply chain reviews and financial leadership groups.

As always, if you are a member company of ARPM and you know of another organization in your business network that could benefit from being an ARPM member, please send an introductory email to Letha Keslar at LKeslar@arpminc.org, along with the name of the person you want us to talk with about association benefits.

Let’s build a larger team that can help each other. u

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Vice President, Editorial: Dianna Brodine Editor: Nicole Mitchell Vice President, Design: Becky Arensdorf Graphic Designer: Hailey Mann Published by:

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ARPM Officers and Board of Directors

President Chris Buhlmann, Gates Corporation Vice President Travis Turek, Bruckman Rubber Corporation Treasurer Marel Riley-Ryman, Southern Michigan Rubber Secretary Joe Keglewitsch, Ice Miller LLP

ARPM Board of Directors

Kirk Bowman, The Timken Group Charlie Braun, Custom Rubber Corporation Russ Burgert, MAPLAN USA Joe Colletti, Marsh Bellofram Randy Dobbs, Sperry & Rice Manufacturing Doug Gilg, Continental ContiTech Diya Garware Ibanez, Fulflex Inc. Dave Jentzsch, Blair Rubber Seth Johnson, Zochem Donovan Lonsway, BRP Manufacturing, Inc. Jon Meigan, Lake Erie Rubber & Manufacturing Mike Rainey, HBD Industries Inc. Mike Recchio, Zeon Chemicals L.P. Brandon Robards, Ace Extrusion Mike Smith, Basic Rubber and Plastics Joe Walker, Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies James Wideman, MBL (USA) Corporation

ARPM Team

Executive Director Troy Nix – tnix@arpminc.org Managing Director Letha Keslar – lkeslar@arpminc.org Marketing Director Marcella Kates – mkates@arpminc.org Analytics Tony Robinson – trobinson@arpminc.org Director of Publications Susan Denzio – sdenzio@arpminc.org Project Manager Kaitlyn Krol – kkrol@arpminc.org