Stretching Success: Alliance Rubber celebrates 100th year
Alliance Rubber Co. celebrated 100 years of manufacturing rubber products in the United States on Tuesday, with nearly 80 of those years rooted in Hot Springs.
The family-owned business is now in its fourth generation of family ownership and plans to stay competitive for many more years to come.Read More : Rubber industry suffers from low prices The company was started in Alliance, Ohio, in 1923 by William H. Spencer. In 1943, Spencer bought the current property in Hot Springs at 210 Carpenter Dam Road, opening the plant the next year. In 1991 the company consolidated, choosing the Hot Springs location as the headquarters. The company also owns a stocking warehouse in Salinas, California.
Bonnie Spencer Swayze, daughter of Spencer and president of Alliance, takes pride in her company being the only remaining rubber band manufacturer in the United States. With all 11 other rubber band manufacturers going out of business in the country in the last 50 years, Swayze says Alliance has remained competitive with quality products at the right price, marketing their products in over 60 countries.
According to Swayze, over 50,000 manufacturing plants have been offshored in the last 20 years, creating a ripple effect across the entire economy. Despite this, Alliance is dedicated to remaining on U.S. soil. "The good thing about having a family business is that you know you can control your destiny," Swayze said.
The company operates three websites: rubberband.com, arcosilicone.com and adbands.com. They have produced everything from newspaper rubber bands to molded and extruded silicone products for engineering and continue to find innovative new uses for their line of existing products. They plan to keep adding more specialized products for a number of industries and applications.
Over the years, Alliance has won its fair share of awards, including the Governor's Award for Excellence in Global Trade During a Pandemic in 2021 as well as being crowned the Best Large Company to Work For in Garland County in The Sentinel-Record's Reader's Choice Awards last year.
Hailing from Hot Springs, Swayze said she loves working and operating her business here as much as she loves living here and dealing with the people of the city.
"The fantastic thing about Hot Springs is, not only are the people great, but the work ethic of Arkansans is second to none," she said. "Our great people are the key reason why we've been successful."
What drew Misty Smith, creative director, to the company was its reputation and deep connection to the community. "I just always heard the most wonderful things about it," Smith said.
Almost all of the supervisors started out at entry-level positions, which is uncommon in the industry, according to Swayze, while 70% of the company's associates have been at the company over five years.
"We are a company of 150 families," Swayze said. "We are one family. And our culture's a little bit different at Alliance than you see at a lot of manufacturing (plants)."
To celebrate its centennial anniversary, the company flew out six of its largest America-based distributors for two days of festivities. The company held a luncheon on Friday at the plant with plant tours.
Saturday morning, the company threw a golf tournament, enjoyed spa treatments and several other activities followed by a party at Oaklawn's The First Turn with guest speaker Walt Coleman, former NFL official. All the associates and the customers in town enjoyed dinner and a banquet before the party moved across the street to the Frontier Club where there was live music from Tony Stampley and Mustang Sally.
"It was really a blast," Swayze said. "I think it was the best of all the anniversary parties we've ever had."
The family-owned business is now in its fourth generation of family ownership and plans to stay competitive for many more years to come.
Bonnie Spencer Swayze, daughter of Spencer and president of Alliance, takes pride in her company being the only remaining rubber band manufacturer in the United States. With all 11 other rubber band manufacturers going out of business in the country in the last 50 years, Swayze says Alliance has remained competitive with quality products at the right price, marketing their products in over 60 countries.
According to Swayze, over 50,000 manufacturing plants have been offshored in the last 20 years, creating a ripple effect across the entire economy. Despite this, Alliance is dedicated to remaining on U.S. soil. "The good thing about having a family business is that you know you can control your destiny," Swayze said.
The company operates three websites: rubberband.com, arcosilicone.com and adbands.com. They have produced everything from newspaper rubber bands to molded and extruded silicone products for engineering and continue to find innovative new uses for their line of existing products. They plan to keep adding more specialized products for a number of industries and applications.
Over the years, Alliance has won its fair share of awards, including the Governor's Award for Excellence in Global Trade During a Pandemic in 2021 as well as being crowned the Best Large Company to Work For in Garland County in The Sentinel-Record's Reader's Choice Awards last year.
Hailing from Hot Springs, Swayze said she loves working and operating her business here as much as she loves living here and dealing with the people of the city.
"The fantastic thing about Hot Springs is, not only are the people great, but the work ethic of Arkansans is second to none," she said. "Our great people are the key reason why we've been successful."
What drew Misty Smith, creative director, to the company was its reputation and deep connection to the community. "I just always heard the most wonderful things about it," Smith said.
Almost all of the supervisors started out at entry-level positions, which is uncommon in the industry, according to Swayze, while 70% of the company's associates have been at the company over five years.
"We are a company of 150 families," Swayze said. "We are one family. And our culture's a little bit different at Alliance than you see at a lot of manufacturing (plants)."
To celebrate its centennial anniversary, the company flew out six of its largest America-based distributors for two days of festivities. The company held a luncheon on Friday at the plant with plant tours.
Saturday morning, the company threw a golf tournament, enjoyed spa treatments and several other activities followed by a party at Oaklawn's The First Turn with guest speaker Walt Coleman, former NFL official. All the associates and the customers in town enjoyed dinner and a banquet before the party moved across the street to the Frontier Club where there was live music from Tony Stampley and Mustang Sally.
"It was really a blast," Swayze said. "I think it was the best of all the anniversary parties we've ever had."
Source: www.hotsr.com
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