DES PLAINES, Ill.—Dynamic Rubber Inc. is moving into its fourth new space since the company's beginning in 2002.
It plans to start its move into a new 30,000-sq.-ft. building by April, President Roger Anderson said. The company is investing about $300,000 in the transition, which includes adding new equipment.
Anderson started Dynamic, which produces inflatable seals and bladders, to reach a niche market, and quickly started expanding. The company began in a 3,000-sq.-ft. building before moving up to 10,000 square feet and then its current 15,000-sq.-ft. location in Des Plaines.
"We've been growing since about 2010 probably at an average of about 10-15 percent a year. It's good growth," Anderson said.
As part of a smaller market, Dynamic and its competitors have all seen continued growth, Anderson said. His company recently picked up an account in China, and opened another large account with an aerospace client through an accredited third party.
"Right now, everyone's booming, everyone's busy," he said.
Dynamic's products have main applications in paper, aerospace and food processing, Anderson said. For example, its gaskets are used in smokehouses for smoked meats producers including Tyson and Purdue. Another large application is leak testing, such as inflating a rubber bladder around a weld to do pressure testing.
The majority of Dynamic's work is with either EPDM or silicone, though it does some work with fluoroelastomers, neoprene and nitrile. It also uses fabrics such as Nomex, Kevlar, Dacron and fiberglass, he said.
Dynamic has grown every year since its inception, including during recession years, though at a slower rate. Anderson said part of that is because of Dynamic's involvement in the food industry, which doesn't go away during a recession. He credits customer service as one of the major reasons the company has seen continued growth.
"A lot of people, because it's a niche industry, they'll take a week to get a quote out," Anderson said. "Our competitors' lead times are 6-16 weeks, where we try to keep a 2-3 week lead time in some areas, 4 weeks at the longest."
As the business continued expanding, Dynamic outgrew the Des Plaines facility. The new location, in Mount Prospect, Ill., is fewer than five miles away, "just up the street basically," Anderson said. "We've always been in the same area."
Dynamic plans to move half of the company into the Mount Prospect location in April, and then slowly move the rest in over the summer, minimizing downtime to "a few days if we do it right," Anderson said. The facility will have about 2,000 square feet of offices, with the rest being shop area, including a cold room, mold storage room, and shipping and receiving, he said.
The company is adding another production line for seals with fabric reinforcement, bringing the total number of lines to five. The addition comes partially to support a large new paper industry customer based in Sweden that moved its business from a competitor to Dynamic, Anderson said.
The investment also includes a new enclosed oven which will allow for larger molds to be cured, Anderson said. The company currently has an infrared oven, which doesn't always provide even heat throughout the mold.
"So we're upgrading to a convection oven, which distributes the heat better, and you can control the heat," he said.
Dynamic has 23 employees, and Anderson has goals of reaching 30 employees within the next two years "if we keep growing at the 10 percent rate," he said. "But you never know with a niche market."
The Mount Prospect location has enough space to continue developing alongside future expansion past the Des Plaines facility, Anderson said.
"It's roughly double the size of what we're in now, so we'll have plenty of room to grow," he said. "But I thought this place would be big enough too, though."