Perched atop its summit as the global manufacturing center for prominent firms such as Goodrich, Firestone, Goodyear, General Tire and Michelin, Akron once ruled the rubber world.
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich spawned the sovereignty when he started the nation’s first rubber company in 1870. The expanding automobile industry fueled growth in tire and rubber production. As more tire companies rolled in, Akron flourished in fortune and fame.
But by the late 1980s, the major rubber companies and tire manufacturers either relocated or redirected themselves — and Akron was left to refocus its specialty and revitalize its economy.
Making a comeback can be a formidable quest when a population loses power as dominator of an enterprise, but Akron’s evolution from the Rubber City to a Polymer Valley version of Silicon Valley was simply a natural process, say area authorities.
“We’ve actually been in the polymer business forever, because at room temperature, polymer is either a rubber or a plastic,” says Frank Kelley, dean of the University of Akron’s College of Polymer Science & Polymer Engineering. “So it was just a natural transition into other types of polymers.”
Kelley’s colleague, Prof. Ray Gehani of the university’s College of Business Administration, says the heritage of Akron’s rubber companies made Summit County fertile ground for the derivatives of rubber. And Robert Algera, director of business growth for the Akron Regional Development Board, has his own theories about how it all happened.
Fundamental to the movement is the fact that plastics are an excellent surrogate substance for commodities such as metal, wood, and in some cases, even rubber. Since plastics and rubber are both polymeric materials, rubber companies focused on developing enhanced materials that would complement their existing rubber products and basic processes, he says.
“Another push may have been the intensive effort during the World War II time frame to develop a synthetic rubber,” Algera says. “As new plastic materials were developed, the rubber companies used them in applications where some of their properties worked better than rubber.”
Algera says Akron’s progression into the plastics market was made easier because this area was already strong in chemical additive production, rubber compounding and processing machinery, and tooling design and fabrication.
“We were anchored in the past with our rubber roots, and we had dye makers, mold makers and machinery makers richly represented in this area,” says Kelley.
“As demand for plastic products grew, some of these smaller supply base companies shifted their emphasis from rubber to plastics, either as mold makers or contract molders,” Kelley says. “Others started up to meet increasing demand, and some began as ex-employees of the large rubber companies, thinking they could make a go with a product that was not going to be produced by the large firm.”
James D’Ianni, former director of research for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., says that Akron’s evolution into derivative rubber industries resulted in large part because of the entrepreneurial endeavors of former rubber company employees. He also credits the companies which supplied chemicals and raw materials from which other products could be made.
“Some of the supplier companies like Monsanto and Vanderbilt that the rubber companies had strong relationships with were very beneficial to people who wanted to go out and start up businesses of their own,” D’Ianni says.
“We also had strong polymer research science and engineering activity at the University of Akron, which was a focal point in bringing a lot of technical people to this area, who in turn have been responsible for a lot of these developments.”
Referring to the role the university has played over the years, Kelley says, “We educated and trained people for the rubber industry, and as the industry grew and other forms of polymers became major articles for commerce, our programs embraced that.”
Kelley recalls that, in 1956, the university transitioned from what was once called the Institute of Rubber Research to the Institute of Polymer Science.
“That was when we saw there was a broadening interest in industry as well as a broadening interest in federal government funding research that related to a wide variety of polymers and plastics,” he says.
All those elements — in combination with Akron’s location, transportation, customers and service organizations — comprise the infrastructure for polymers that helped pave the road into new territory.
“Back in the ’70s, it was the rubber polymers,” says Sharell Mikesell, vice president of technology for Advanced Elastomer Systems LP in Akron, and an advisory council member of the university’s College of Polymer Science & Engineering. “A lot of the same methodologies and skill sets were very adaptable to the plastics industry. Plus, you had that infrastructure here that really supported polymer science.”
All the experts agree that Ohio’s Edison Technology Centers have bolstered the infrastructure of polymers. The centers, which the state of Ohio began establishing in 1984 to partner industry with academia and government, have strengthened industrial competitiveness through technological innovation.
Each of the seven Edison centers offers capabilities in technologies, including advanced manufacturing, materials and processes, welding and materials joining, biotechnology, environmental, and polymers.
The Edison Polymer Innovation Corp. (EPIC) center in Akron provides applied polymer research and development of new materials, processes and supporting polymer technology. EPIC’s university partners — The University of Akron, Case Western Reserve University and The Ohio State University — provide member companies with the scientific and production expertise and equipment, and the most advanced polymer research in the field.
“Akron had all the infrastructure for a company to move here,” summarizes Jim Colangelo, EPIC’s director of business development. “But companies often tell me that part of the reason they either expanded here or moved to the Greater Akron area is because we know how to spell the word polymer!”
