FROM THE DIRECTOR Seeing… Hearing… Doing: All in the Name of Better Profits By Letha Keslar, ARPM
A
physicist by the name of David Bohm once said, “to change your reality you have to change your inner thoughts.” My thought about rubber manufacturing executives is that “to radically change and improve your current state of business, executives must physically witness and experience the advances that others are making.” I will not discount the fact that executives can improve their businesses by implementing ideas and practices they have read about. However, the rubber manufacturing businesses that I’ve seen transformed are run by executives who actively measure their operations and compare their processes and methodologies to others. Recently, ARPM held a plant tour event at Bruckman Rubber in Hastings, Nebraska. When ARPM conducts these open house activities, both the participants and the hosting party receive value. From an attendee’s viewpoint, seeing another operation is a valuable learning tool, as one can quickly gain improvement ideas or compare methods to find more efficient ways of doing things. From the host’s viewpoint, value is received in a couple of ways. First, when other manufacturing professionals walk through your operations, they inherently find opportunities for improvement. Second, the pride employees feel in themselves and their place of work when they demonstrate to others “how good they are” often acts as a morale booster! Hidden in this concept is the fact that teaching others about your own operation may require stafflevel employees to invest time and effort into better understanding processes and procedures; after all, you don’t want to be stumped by a question from a guest when it comes your way!
7321 Shadeland Station Way, Suite 285 Indianapolis, IN 46256 Phone: 317.863.4072 | Fax: 317.913.2445 info@arpminc.org | www.arpminc.com © Copyright 2022 ARPM Officers and Board of Directors President Travis Turek, Bruckman Rubber Corporation Vice President James Wideman, MBL (USA) Corporation Treasurer Marel Riley-Ryman, Southern Michigan Rubber Secretary Joe Keglewitsch, Ice Miller LLP
4 Inside Rubber // 2022 Issue 2
ARPM Board of Directors
There is incredible value in learning from others, and ARPM is offering all rubber industry leaders a variety of opportunities to develop their knowledge bases and improve their own business operations. • Sales and Marketing Forum (June 15-16). Is your company prepared to meet its sales goals this year? Attendees will explore successful sales strategies and learn about best practices in sales and marketing. • HR Forum (July 20-21). The annual HR Forum is a unique virtual event designed by HR professionals in the manufacturing industry. Current benchmarks, best practices, challenges and more are covered to send attendees back to their organization with implementable ideas to improve dayto-day business operations. • Finance Forum (November 16). Discover the latest strategies and technologies being implemented by leading companies to deliver the crucial support and insights necessary for longterm economic success. And of course, the annual Benchmarking & Best Practices Conference (October 5-7) will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, and has been designed as a practitioner’s event. It offers rubber manufacturing executives the opportunity to interact with other rubber manufacturing executives, with presentations on Continuous Improvement Initiatives, Today’s Tactics in Dealing with Customers, Program Launch Best Practices and more. I would like to personally invite you and your team to these very special events. I guarantee you will leave our venues with new ideas, new contacts and a renewed level of excitement about your own business and career! Register at www.arpminc.com/events.
Vice President, Editorial: Dianna Brodine Editor: Nicole Mitchell Vice President, Design: Becky Arensdorf Graphic Designer: Hailey Mann Published by:
Kirk Bowman, The Timken Company Charlie Braun, Custom Rubber Corp. Russ Burgert, Maplan Rubber Machinery Joe Colletti, Marsh Bellofram Randy Dobbs, Sperry & Rice Doug Gilg, Continental ContiTech Diya Garware Ibanez, Fulflex, Inc. Dave Jentzsch, Blair Rubber Seth Johnson, Zochem LLC Donovan Lonsway, BRP 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
2150 SW Westport Dr., Suite 101 Topeka, KS 66614 Phone: 785.271.5801 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 Membership & Events Director Kaitlyn Krol – kkrol@arpminc.org
