Rahco invests about $1 million in people, equipment

DES PLAINES, Ill.—Rahco Rubber Inc. has grown steadily in 2017, and during the last eight months has poured about $1 million into its operation to add machinery and make other moves to support the gains it has made.

Included in the company's investments are two high tech V710, generation G10 Rep presses; a 700-ton Benchmark 750 vertical injection Desma with matching 12 cavity double deck precision mold; a 110-ton hydraulic Wabash press; a Micro-Vu automated metrology system that automatically dimensionalizes and certifies components to sub-pixel accuracy; a 40-ton Wabash press with state-of-the-art control system for research and development efforts; and a high tech dry ice cleaning system, according to Dennis Askew, business development manager of the Des Plaines-based company.

Overall, the company has experienced about 7 percent growth, he said, and it has received ISO 9001:2015 certification and an extension of the company's ISO 9001:2008 certification.

A manufacturer of custom engineered precision molded rubber components, a sealing products provider and a formulator of advanced polymer materials, Rahco has been a family-owned business with the Anton family at the helm for 45 years.

The firm operates out of a 60,000-sq.-ft. plant in Des Plaines that features nearly 50 presses and compounding machines along with fully equipped research, development and quality control labs.

That's a big leap from Rahco's three employees and four machines housed in a 5,000-sq.-ft. facility when the company was launched in 1972.

Rahco's top officials cited various reasons for the firm's success both recently and over the years, including product quality and on-time delivery.

But President Steve Anton and other officials cited the efforts of the company's hard working, experienced and dedicated 100-person work force—about 85 percent of whom are Hispanic—on the front lines as the prime asset of the company.

"A core reason for our success is our extended family, our employees," he said, while Jim Anton, vice president of operations, maintained that "our workers have gotten us here."

"It is impossible to measure their dedication, belief in making a positive impact and the craftsman-like pride they bring every day," Jim Anton said. The firm is very fortunate to have a culturally diverse workplace and tenured employees, added Jack Anton, vice president of sales and marketing.

Without a dedicated work force, Steve Anton said, "we as a company can't support our current customers or growth opportunities. Attendant to the molding rubber business is a significant amount of labor, skilled labor, focused labor. Our shop floor has talented and experienced workers who make it happen every day."

With that type of commitment, he said, the company has been able to gain significant ground in the markets it serves and make investments when needed to support the firm's continuous growth.

Rahco began hiring a number of Latino workers not long after it was launched, the company president said, and has been bringing them on board regularly since then. "It was very obvious in the work ethic and efforts displayed along with an eagerness to support our goals that they would benefit the company.

Thus far, it has worked out well for both the business and members of the work force, some of whom have been with the company for more than 30 years.

"Our family culture and that of the Latino work force are closely aligned," Anton said. "We are both passionate, hardworking and committed to doing our best."

Mutual admiration

Members of the work force feel the same about the company as the firm's top executives do about them.

"Rahco Rubber is a company that treats its employees like family," said Juan Diaz, a metrologist who has been with the firm for 18 years. "I can honestly say this based on my experience.

"I was hired in June 1998. One month later my father passed away. I informed my manager; less than 30 minutes later he called me back. He had spoken to the owners and was told to ask me if money was needed for funeral expenses. I was shocked; this was completely unheard of to me.

"Such a kind gesture and compassion toward a newcomer. From that moment on, I knew I was in good hands."

Juan Santillan, who's worked for the firm for 22 years and is presently the human resources and safety director, said the company supports people as they grow, promoting workers to operators and operators to supervisors or technicians. "The best reason to be here at Rahco Rubber is that the owners treat you with respect, because as they always say, we are family."

Ulbia Gallardo has worked for the firm for 33 years and, she said, the journey from Rahco's humble beginnings to today "has been incredible. I began as an inspector in the Final Inspection Department. In 2004, I was given the opportunity to work in the Quality Control Department where I am now the assistant supervisor."

She maintained that Rahco's "leadership, hard working men and women, and a combined dedication to quality and efficiency has helped this company become one of the finest manufacturers of molded rubber parts in the world."