‘Ready for anything': HB Chemical distributor is Rubber News' 2023 Best Place to Work

TWINSBURG, Ohio—The tight-knit crew at HB Chemical Corp. has lofty goals, and their selection as Rubber News' 2023 Best Place to Work is evidence that the growing distributor is achieving them.

"Think of us as the WalMart or the Amazon for the rubber world," Joe Moran, vice president and director of the 48-person firm, told Rubber News Feb. 17. "We still try to operate how we operated 20 years ago. It is all about the customer.

"It's all about getting the order processed and on the truck. Everyone's focus is very similar here. Once you have that mentality, you have a true team."

Indeed, becoming "the Amazon" of the rubber chemical distribution world requires everyone to row in the same direction.

Moran believes his team is meeting the moment, now and again, albeit on a smaller scale than the Bezos-led behemoth.

"It has become more difficult as we have grown, but as soon as we become fragmented and stale and compartmentalized, customers will see that," Moran said. "There is a reason they want to do business with us."

The warehouse at HB Chemical is 116,000 square feet of one-stop shopping, or, as it were, one-stop picking to fill online orders. Overall, HB Chemical has 150,000 square feet on the industrial parkway, comprising quality control, customer service and executive offices, in addition to the warehouse.

The distributor operates another 90,000-sq.-ft. warehouse just a couple miles away, and has a warehouse in Bremen, Ga., as well.

"We are still looking for warehouse expansion opportunities," Moran said. "One of the biggest rubber production portions of the company is in the Southeast, and we are always looking to serve the customer better. One of those ways could be in looking at (another) warehouse in Georgia."

The company, which has been in Twinsburg since 2013 and in Northeast Ohio since its founding by Hill Browning in 1986, estimates it will see about $350 million in net sales in 2023 with the addition of the CPA rubber unit and Goldsmith & Eggleton.

HB Chemical is owned by Belgian parent company Ravago.

"Ravago has been very supportive in this process," Moran said. "They were the best company that could have bought us. They support our business and let us run our business—they did not come in and corporatize us. It really has a been a fantastic melding of cultures that are very similar in their customer focus. Ravago is really dedicated to that."

Today, as the market and pricing stabilize a bit, there is balance to the ebbs and flows of HB Chemical's shipments.

But that was not always the case.

The bustling space was once an empty area that Moran came to know well during the chaos of the pandemic, when he often was the only person in the building and every other employee was working from home.

"It is a tough thing to gauge, quite frankly, because it all seems like a blur to me at this point," Moran said. "We continued to operate through COVID, as we were deemed an essential business. It's the first time I've been deemed essential in my life."

Tire manufacturers (the larger producers who do their own custom mixing) and custom mixers represent about equal pieces of the pie for HB Chemical as far as majority markets, Moran said.

"There was a bit of a downturn with tire, but it only lasted a short period of time," he said.

Then demand returned with a fever pitch.

"This is when the supply line exploded, and it was a death spiral from there," he said. "I do not mean this from a business (demand) standpoint; rather, keeping enough supply became an issue. All of rubber was insane. It ramped up beyond anyone's wildest dreams."

Raw materials finally started to move, despite filled freighters loitering in harbors and the February 2021 freeze in Texas.

And these were materials that HB Chemical desperately needed due to a supply crunch even before the pandemic lockdown.

"I am walking around the warehouse and another container is coming in. Sales were way down. And I remember thinking, 'Boy, this isn't good,' " Moran said.

But the size of HB Chemical is its strength.

At fewer than 50 employees and with the support of Ravago, HB Chemical is able to maintain a unique agility during economic downturns. And this typically is when the award-winning team kicks things into high gear.

"What I saw from a sales side, seeing the relationships our team holds with their customer base, this granted us a lot of flexibility," said Meredith Fendenheim, director of operations at HB Chemical. "Our open communication really assisted us.

"Do you really need two skids or can you get by with one? Because downstream, they are trying to do the same thing HB is doing here."

Fendenheim added that "there is not a lot of red tape to wade through" at HB Chemical.

"The flexibility we have is crucial for a smaller distributor," she said.

Calling the world a post-pandemic landscape might be a bit of a mischaracterization, though HB Chemical executives say they are seeing markets stabilize.

"I think things have calmed down," Moran said. "Some of the supply chain issues have calmed down. We really are not running into big problems now, and by and large it is stable."

While a backlog can be a good thing, a company needs the supply to meet the backlog.

Procuring multiple sources is important, Moran said, but maintaining that balance in inventory is crucial.

"I think our team really came together and worked really hard, working their contacts and trying to get product cleared," Moran said.

Assisting HB Chemical today and during the pandemic is a "robust team in Shanghai," Moran said.

"They helped navigate the difficulties," he said. "But at the end of the day, things were still really tight.

"Communication with the customer and our suppliers, and this team running on all cylinders, really helped."

Pricing stabilization is as welcome as market balance, Moran said.

"We have a good viewpoint across the whole chain, and pricing volatility is less than it was right now," he said. "It has stabilized to a certain degree. It really depends on whether China comes back in a very robust manner (from its most recent lockdown). This could affect a lot of things."

Jeff Brabham, business manager of elastomers at HB Chemical, said the correction began in the last quarter of 2022 with "things slowly creeping back."

"The market was a tad bit asleep for the last three or four months," he told Rubber News. "This has reset itself, and we are at the bottom once again. Once we get through the next couple months, we will be in good shape and should see that growth start to happen once again."

The survey that earned HB Chemical the top spot in Best Places to Work, conducted by the third-party Best Companies Group, is based on policies, practices and demographics, along with community outreach and "stress-relieving" activities for employees.

The firm has some interesting activities in the latter regard, including the Turkey Bowl, where employees literally bowl with frozen turkeys, then give the turkeys to local animal shelters for food.

The company also has pot luck lunches, parties in the summer with games and food and an annual Christmas party.

"We are potentially doing a food truck this year," Fendenheim said. "These things break things up a little bit."

She added that employees volunteer at the Akron-Canton Food Bank and have sent "thank-you" baskets to the local Twinsburg police and fire departments.

And those who are skilled on a forklift can attend the forklift rodeo, conducted in Texas (for Ravago companies) once per year.

HB Chemical is competitive with its benefits and offers tuition assistance for advanced and post-graduate degrees, as well as tuition toward industry certifications.

"HB Chemical is a great place to work," stated one employee in the survey. "They provide great benefits and opportunities for personal growth. It is a fun and challenging atmosphere. Everyone works together to achieve the company goals and objectives.

"There are realistic expectations and everyone works together as a team."

The work force is well-paid, Moran said, and as such HB Chemical saw little of the hiring and retainment issues witnessed by other firms over the past couple years.

"Compared to other companies, we have been pretty exceptional," Fendenheim said. "This has been a staple at HB Chemical, the non-turnover. Most of the people who are here have been here for 10 or 15 years."

Moran added that HB Chemical actually is in a hiring push right now due to its growth.

Ultimately, the selection as the Best Place to Work is based on "outstanding employee satisfaction."

But the analytics cannot match the esprit de corps at HB Chemical, from the C-suite, to customer service cubicles, to the warehouse floor.

"We care about employees and their work-life balance," Fendenheim said.

Moran greeted each employee by name Feb. 17 as he walked past pallets of zinc oxide, crates of carbon black and massive liquid containers filled with stearic acid in the warehouse.

And each employee responded in kind, with one tow motor driver exclaiming, "I'm ready for anything today, Joe, whatever you want to throw at me."

If the trials of the past several years are any indication, the hardened sentiment has never been more true for HB Chemical.

"We are standing on the shoulders of the original owner," Moran said. "Hill Browning was a salesman. He hated the corporate structure and just wanted to go sell. That has carried through today, and it is not going to change on my watch."