5 for 50: Bruce Meyer's five most memorable work trips

As we continue to count down to the 50th anniversary of Rubber & Plastics News, I'm using this "5 for 50" space to get a little personal.

During my 33-plus years at the publication, I have had the opportunity to go on a wide variety of trips. I've been to nice locations and resorts all over North America to cover annual meetings and conventions, and have been overseas a number of times as well.

But what I've really enjoyed the most is going on the road to visit individual companies, meet with their leaders and staff, and see their operations. Cutting this list down to five was difficult, as there are countless other good memories I could draw on. And as you'll see in my list, it's not always the most glamorous locations that stick with you, but who you meet and what you learn while you're there.

In each issue leading up to our special 50th Anniversary issue on Aug. 9, we'll present a new list of 5—businesses, discoveries and innovations, moments and organizations that have changed or are changing the industry. When our 50th anniversary issue arrives, you'll already have a total of 50 companies, people, innovations and moments that have helped define the rubber industry's last five decades.

1. Jasper Rubber Products Inc., Jasper, Ind.
After I started at RPN in 1988, I got to go to a small machinery shop in Akron early on. But it wasn't until the summer that I got to visit my first full-scale rubber factory and see goods molded and extruded.

I knew Jasper Rubber's leader, A. Wayne Place, through a couple of stories over the telephone, most notably about the company's program at the time to hire workers with Down syndrome.

A couple months later, Place invited me out to Jasper, Ind., to see the factory and take part in an annual vendor and customer golf outing. The summer of 1988 was brutal, and the temperature neared 110°F that day, helping to cement the trip in my memory.

I worked with Place on one more major piece the following year, before he died too young. To this day, he remains one of my favorite people in the industry, a man of true integrity.

2. Goodyear Tire plant, Gadsden, Ala.

I spent a week at Goodyear's tire factory in Gadsden, Ala., back in 1999 after the Akron-based tire maker said it planned to stop tire production at the 70-year-old facility.

I did a bit of "double duty" on this trip. I wrote a package of stories for RPN, but also spent time interviewing members of United Steelworkers Local 12 for a book I wrote on the history of the United Rubber Workers union.

The one interview that stuck with me was with E.K. Bowers, who had to sign a pledge in the 1930s not to join a union before he could be hired. But after the first president of the URW was beaten when trying to organize the plant, Bowers not only joined Local 12, but served a number of years as local president.

Less than two months after my trip, Local 12 and Goodyear reached an agreement to keep Gadsden open, and the factory operated 20-plus more years before closing in 2020.

3.Toyo Tire plant, White, Ga.

For the first 15 years I was at RPN, there was only one tire factory built in the U.S. But that all started to change about five years into the new century. Toyo Tire Corp. was one of the first foreign firms to change that, opening a tire plant in the rural community of White, Ga.

I attended the opening festivities in late 2005, but the only view of the operations was from a long distance. A year or so later I made a solo trip to the plant, and got to see up close what an impressive and modern operation it really was.

That also was when I first got to know Jim Hawk, leader of the plant at the time, who became our Executive of the Year in 2013.

4. Seals Eastern Inc., Red Bank, N.J.

Right after Thanksgiving in 2007, I got to drive for many hours in a rainstorm to make my way to Red Bank, N.J., to interview Dan Hertz Jr., president of Seals Eastern Inc., whom RPN was honoring as Executive of the Year. It was well worth the drive.

Hertz was a true original in the rubber industry. He was self-educated and wasn't shy about sharing his opinions, of which he had many. The day we spent together was like a master class in all that he had learned during his career and how he helped make his firm successful.

Hertz died earlier this year. A full obituary will appear in an upcoming issue.

5. Southern California

In early 2015, I had a plane ticket voucher that needed used. It was winter, so of course I thought taking a trip to Southern California was a good idea. And when it was below zero in Ohio the day I flew out, I was convinced it was an excellent idea.

The weeklong trip had a number of highlights, particularly conducting a roundtable discussion hosted by R.D. Abbott that included representatives from RDA, Vip Rubber, Santa Fe Rubber Products and Specialty Silicone Fabricators. The officials weren't shy about sharing the pluses and minuses of doing business in California.

The week also included a history lesson on LSR from George Kipe, a trip to an L.A. Clippers game courtesy of Yokohama, and way too many hours spent in traffic. I also didn't feel guilty about enjoying a bike ride along the ocean with an old friend while everyone back home was freezing.