Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • European Rubber Journal
  • Plastics News
web
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • ITEC
    • Automotive
    • Tire
    • Non-Tire
    • Suppliers
    • Silicone
    • Latex
    • Coronavirus
    • Executive Action
    • Government/Legal
    • Opinion
    • Technical Notebooks
    • International Elastomer Show
    • Women in Tire & Rubber
    • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Goodyear recognized by Lockheed Martin as 'elite supplier'
      EV tire advancements to help secure future
      Lambillotte: Only question on AVs is timing
      CAR official says EV future brighter than autonomous
    • Motion Industries rebrands as 'Motion'
      USW opposes Taiwan tire makers' dumping counterproposal
      Goodyear-branded transmission belts set to return
      Hot topics at virtual CES: AVs, air taxis and drones
    • USW opposes Taiwan tire makers' dumping counterproposal
      Greenergy, Haldor Topsoe tech turns tires to fuel
      India decides against extending carbon black duties
      GRI expanding ag tire capacity at 3-year-old Sri Lanka plant
    • Motion Industries rebrands as 'Motion'
      Proto Labs to buy e-commerce company 3D Hubs for $280 million
      NewAge Industries celebrates 15 years of employee ownership
      India decides against extending carbon black duties
    • Tero Peltomaki named Cimcorp CEO
      Nynas expects to be stronger after reorganization
      Synthomer CEO MacLean to step down by early 2022
      Safic-Alcan and Arkema working together on distribution deal
    • Proto Labs to buy e-commerce company 3D Hubs for $280 million
      Ace Products & Consulting partners with Wallace Instruments
      Safic-Alcan extends distribution agreement with Momentive
      Momentive aims to grow silicone presence in Asia-Pacific region
    • WCCO task force navigates pandemic, expands communications
      ASTM cancels April meetings as COVID-19 continues impact
      Paycheck Protection Program funding reopens Jan. 15
      Detroit Auto Show canceled; alternative event being planned for September
    • Tero Peltomaki named Cimcorp CEO
      Synthomer CEO MacLean to step down by early 2022
      ARP Materials adds technical sales manager
      Jack Murphy joins Akron Dispersions
    • USW opposes Taiwan tire makers' dumping counterproposal
      India decides against extending carbon black duties
      Hot topics at virtual CES: AVs, air taxis and drones
      Paycheck Protection Program funding reopens Jan. 15
    • Column: Pandemic looms over everything in life, business in 2020
      Column: Lessons from the 2020 Best Places to Work
      Editorial: Silicone hit hard by pandemic, expected to bounce back
      Column: Still far way from normal
    • Effects of multiple repurposed materials for reinforcements of standard rubber compounds
      Impact of peroxide blends on the cure rate and aged properties in HNBR
      Techniques to detect long chain branching in polymers
      A comparative study looking at effects of curing kinetics and batch variation on SBR injection molding and numerical analytics
    • Rubber Division seeks abstracts for 200th Technical Meeting
      WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      IEC keynote: Communication key to logistics
      IEC speaker: Specialized elastomers may reduce spread of life-threatening pathogens
    • WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      New video celebrates women in rubber industry
      ITEC panelists say women can thrive in tire industry
      Rubber Division planning second Women of Rubber event
    • Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Faster Access to Your Polymer Compounding Experts Around the World
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Take a walk thru a HEXPOL Lab
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      HEXPOL offers a unique selection of High Performance Elastomers to match your application requirements
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      It’s what you can’t see that makes the Difference at HEXPOL
  • Blogs
    • Products
    • Wacky World of Rubber
    • New Products: Nova thinks outside the box with sealing tech
      New Products: MonTech introduces 1,500 kN lab press
      New products: 3M introduces new durable, pliable medical adhesive
      New Products: Lanxess launches energy-efficient PU elastomer
    • Wacky World of Rubber: How Trelleborg, teens sealed a spot in the world record book
      Wacky World of Rubber: Of chicken and feet, but not chicken feet
      Wacky World of Rubber: Time to go mattress shopping
      Wacky World of Rubber: Because nothing says football like 'frunk' shrimp
  • Newsletters
    • Rubber in Automotive
    • Silicone News
    • Latex News
    • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Motion Industries rebrands as 'Motion'
      USW opposes Taiwan tire makers' dumping counterproposal
      Goodyear-branded transmission belts set to return
      Hot topics at virtual CES: AVs, air taxis and drones
    • Proto Labs to buy e-commerce company 3D Hubs for $280 million
      Ace Products & Consulting partners with Wallace Instruments
      Safic-Alcan extends distribution agreement with Momentive
      Momentive aims to grow silicone presence in Asia-Pacific region
    • Bridgestone bets on guayule as alternative natural rubber source
      Synthomer CEO MacLean to step down by early 2022
      Jack Murphy joins Akron Dispersions
      Synthomer optimistic, raises earnings forecast
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photo Galleries
  • Directory
  • Resources
    • Classifieds & Mold Mart
    • Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Sponsored By HB Chemical
      The Company Behind the Inventory
      Sponsored By French Oil Mill Machinery
      Process Improvement, Cost Reduction with Custom Press Systems
    • Sponsored By Uncountable Inc.
      Cooper Standard deploys lab informatics platform to synchronize R&D
      Sponsored By Elkem
      LSR Selectā„¢: A solution to improve your financial impact in molding applications
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Peroxide Cureable Silicone Injection Molding
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Understanding and Selecting Performance Additives for Rubber Compounding
  • Data
  • Events
    • RPN Events
    • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
    • Industry Events
    • Past Events
    • ITEC Library
    • International Silicone Conference Library
    • 2021 Healthcare Elastomers Virtual Edition
      2021 Rubber in Automotive Virtual Edition
      2020 International Silicone Conference Virtual Edition
      2020 ITEC Virtual Edition
  • Advertise
  • DIGITAL EDITION
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
November 14, 2008 01:00 AM

Benninger tries to move Amerityre toward profitability

Bruce Meyer
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    AKRON—Gary Benninger knows what it will take for Amerityre Corp. to stop being seen as a company with an interesting technology and future potential and instead be regarded as a viable business.

    “It's going to be when you transition from losing money to making money,” said the company's president and CEO. “That's the way I define it.”

    That's not necessarily an easy feat for a company that has reported collective losses of nearly $50 million during its 13 years of existence on overall revenue of about $9 million. During that time the publicly held firm has been working on its polyurethane technology for various products, including an ongoing program to try to develop a viable PU passenger tire.

    Benninger believes the Boulder City, Nev.-based business is making strides across its various product platforms. He came to Amerityre three years ago as chief operating officer and was promoted a year ago to succeed company founder Richard Steinke, who wanted to step down from the administrative side of the business to focus on the technology as a full-time consultant.

    Benninger believed he could work with Steinke—who has spent his career trying to make a viable business out of his urethane know-how—because the Amerityre founder had a lot of energy and a good technology.

    “He likes to work with the technology and polyurethane formulations,” Benninger said during an interview at the International Tire Exhibition and Conference, held recently in Akron. “We basically complement one another very well. I'm a little bit more on the organizational side, keeping all the balls in the air, and he likes to work on the advance projects.”

    Attraction to Amerityre

    Benninger originally was a research physicist, holding a doctorate in physics. He spent time in the military and then moved to NASA. He left there to work for about a decade in various engineering capacities at Ford Motor Co.

    In 1983 he joined Magna International Inc. With the exception of a short stint at another company, Benninger spent most of the next 22 years at Magna in such posts as vice president of product development, corporate executive VP of research and development, and as division manager for the polyurethanes interior products division.

    While at Magna he read about Amerityre's project to try to develop a PU car tire and decided to check it out for himself.

    “It looked like something that Magna could be very interested in,” he said. “From time to time Magna got into new technologies, and when they got into new technologies, it would always be at a time when there was a paradigm shift in that product.”

    His first impression was that there was enough test data on the car tire program that couldn't be overlooked. “It was something I felt (Magna) couldn't ignore. It was a pretty compelling story, so that's the message that I went back with.”

    Several other Magna people went to visit Amerityre and felt the same way. “There wasn't anything negative going back,” Benninger said. “It was all positive.”

    So one of Magna's groups was poised to start a program with Amerityre, putting Benninger in charge from the Magna side of things. “But when push came to shove the group within Magna was having financial problems, so they canceled the program,” Benninger said.

    At that point, Amerityre offered him the chief operating officer post.

    During his career Benninger had been part of large organizations at NASA and Ford. And while Magna is a multibillion dollar corporation, it's very decentralized, and Benninger liked the autonomy he had when running one of the firm's manufacturing operations.

    “I felt this was an opportunity to do that again—a thin organization where you can get things done and make a difference,” he said. “On the other hand, I'm also a little bit of a sucker for technology and things I think have a chance to be a really great thing.”

    Operating as a business

    What Amerityre needs to do now is use its various products to get the firm into a position where it's profitable, the executive said. The company's five product initiatives are the foam tire, tire fill, solid tires, retreading and car tires. “Each one is in various stages of getting to the point where it's a commercially viable product,” he said.

    Foam tires are the original product made from Steinke's PU technology and are commercially viable, in production for a number of years. The business was bolstered earlier this year when Amerityre acquired a significant portion of the manufacturing assets of Kik Technology Inc., a maker of foam tires that was well known in certain products such as wheelchair tires.

    “That was something that complemented our current product line,” Benninger said. “It's just now starting to get back on track because (Kik) hadn't manufactured in about six months.”

    The tire fill portion of Amerityre's business, which included fills based both on foam and elastomers, are commercially viable, the firm's CEO said. This year it has sold five lightweight fill machines—for which it then supplies material—and has about another half-dozen it is looking to sell.

    Amerityre currently is aiming to push its technology to make solid PU forklift tires. Benninger said the company took its manufacturing process for the foam tire and adapted it for the solid tire, enabling firms to make PU tires that have better performance than their rubber counterparts but at an equivalent price.

    He claims four companies have expressed interest, some that currently make forklift tires and others that buy and sell the tires but want to manufacture them.

    The firm did sell a pour machine to China's Qingdao Qizhou Rubber Co. Ltd. to retread off-the-road mining tires using PU elastomer compounds provided by Amerityre. The Chinese company has delayed launching the project, though Benninger expects it to go forward within the next few months.

    As for the PU car tire, on the plus side it did pass late last year the more stringent FMVSS 139 test for passenger tires. The tire, however, has had some traction problems that still need to be addressed, Benninger said, and the company is working on completing the equipment package for the manufacturing process.

    Several unnamed tire and car companies—both domestic and foreign—have tested the tire, he said. Amerityre at some point plans to build a pilot production facility for the passenger tires but the firm may have to look at options on raising more money.

    Benninger measures progress at Amerityre by how well the firm is moving toward getting these various products commercially marketable.

    “That's how you measure R&D: is the product saleable yet?” he said. “If it's not, what are you going to do to get it there? Then, what are the dollar values of the sales? That's it. … To get the company profitable, we have to get enough of these out there, whether it's product, materials or the hardware to make these products.”

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Rubber & Plastics News wants to hear from its readers. If you want to express your opinion on a story or issue, email your letter to Editor Bruce Meyer at [email protected].

    SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Rubber & Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe Today

    Subscribe to Rubber & Plastics News to get the best coverage and leading insights in the industry.

    SUBSCRIBE
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    MISSION

    To serve companies in the global rubber product industry by delivering news, industry insights, opinions and technical information.

    web
    Contact Us

    2291 Riverfront Pkwy, Suite 1000
    Cuyahoga Falls,
    OH 44221

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1726

    Resources
    • About Us
    • Digital Edition
    • Contact the Staff
    • Advertise
    • Order Reprints
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    • Terms of Service
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Partner Sites
    • Tire Business
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Plastics News
    • Plastics News China
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Automotive News
    • Crain Brands
    Copyright Ā© 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • ITEC
      • Automotive
      • Tire
      • Non-Tire
      • Suppliers
      • Silicone
      • Latex
      • Coronavirus
      • Executive Action
      • Government/Legal
      • Opinion
      • Technical Notebooks
      • International Elastomer Show
      • Women in Tire & Rubber
      • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Blogs
      • Products
      • Wacky World of Rubber
    • Newsletters
      • Rubber in Automotive
      • Silicone News
      • Latex News
      • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Photo Galleries
    • Directory
    • Resources
      • Classifieds & Mold Mart
      • Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
    • Data
    • Events
      • RPN Events
      • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
      • Industry Events
      • Past Events
      • ITEC Library
      • International Silicone Conference Library
    • Advertise
    • DIGITAL EDITION