Specification Rubber named Rubber News' 'Best Place to Work'

ALABASTER, Ala.—The year was 1968—a year of chaos and courage, when race riots and political upheaval marred the country's landscape and the first human beings journeyed to the moon aboard Apollo 8.

It was the same year that Specification Rubber Products Inc.—Rubber News' 2021 Best Places to Work winner—opened its doors. The company began operations in an 18,000-sq.-ft. facility in the very center of Alabama—not far from Huntsville, where NASA's astros trained for their missions.

"Spec Rubber," as the company is affectionately known to its 62 employees, uses video from Apollo 8 on the opening page of its website as inspiration that such chaos can be overcome, that the impossible is possible with hard work and precise planning.

The message is prescient today, considering the uncertainty wrought in 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain nightmares, pricing volatility and the Great Resignation.

"Effective teamwork and overall engagement are two parts of the secret sauce that genuinely help make Spec Rubber unique and a great place to work," President Steven A. Smith told Rubber News Jan. 11. "I'm honored to be part of such a wonderful group who shows up and delivers daily."

Through eight expansions over the last 53 years, diligence has paid off for the rubber processor, as the company has grown to more than four times its original size, now at about 85,000 square feet in Alabaster.

Specification Rubber has evolved into a sought-after manufacturer of molded rubber components for the waterworks industry, specializing in rubber gaskets. Today, the company is a primary supplier for ductile iron pipe, valve and hydrant producers.

The firm specializes in the use of SBR, natural rubber, nitrile, EPDM, neoprene, silicone and fluoroelastomers, offering specialty mechanical molded goods for industrial, oil and gas, agricultural, electrical and some mining applications.

It uses injection molding and compression molding by oven and autoclave, and can produce large parts as well as small, though its expertise is in tight threshold gaskets and tight tolerance parts.

Mirroring the precise planning required from the crews and mission controllers of the Apollo program, the company's name is an accurate description of the products and services Specification Rubber provides to customers.

"I have to say, at the onset of all this in March 2020 when the world locked down, Steve (Smith) was very smart as it related to our custom mixers, our No. 1 vendors," said Wesley Helton, sales and marketing manager at Specification Rubber. "What we were able to do, shifting from this vendor to that vendor and developing a rapport with people ... this was invaluable given the current environment.

"He did a great job in beefing up relationships before it hit the fan. This has been a huge asset for us now, as we are in decent shape, shifting some of our buying habits on the front end."

While the operations side is crucial to the financial health of the company, it is the human side that garnered Specification Rubber the top slot following the 2021 Best Places to Work survey.

Specifically, Rubber News' Best Places to Work program honors companies in the rubber industry for outstanding employee satisfaction.

The category is defined by companies that make end rubber products, as well as suppliers or providers of services for the rubber industry.

The survey evaluates participating companies' workplace policies, practices, diversity and demographics; and employee responses directly assess the experiences and attitudes of individuals with respect to their workplace.

The combined scores determine the top organizations and the final ranking.

"Alabama businesses consistently prove to the country—and world—that our state is not only a top state to do business in, but that it is a great place to live, work and raise a family," said Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey in an email. "I am so proud of Specification Rubber Products on their well-deserved recognition by Rubber News. It should come as no surprise that an Alabama company was named the Best Place to Work.

"I look forward to more success for Specification Rubber Products and its hard workers in the years to come."

Specification Rubber is considered a top place to work for a number of reasons, Smith said. The company has been designated as one of the leading manufacturing companies in Alabama and previously has been nominated as "Manufacturer of the Year."

Its diversity programs are strong, and its health and retirement benefits—via a 100-percent Employee Stock Ownership Program implemented by parent company American Cast Iron Pipe Co.—are well-regarded.

Specification Rubber considers safety its No. 1 priority, as evidenced by its safety motto, "We want every team member to go home in as good, if not better, condition as they were when they arrived."

And the company has been recognized as a finalist for the "Safest Manufacturer" award in Alabama.

Smith has led the company for 13 years, longer than the 10.9-year average from the leaders of companies polled in the Best Places to Work survey.

"Specification Rubber Products is a great work environment because of the teamwork built between all team members," he said. "Our salary and wage team are often together, whether it is a tailgate party, shaved-ice day, quarterly bonus or safety milestone celebration, or anything in-between, our team comes together and creates a culture that is very positive, caring and uplifting."

Such camaraderie has lifted Spec Rubber through the current supply chain challenges and manufacturing issues.

"If there is a mechanical issue with one of our presses, our team is ready to tackle the challenge together because of the bridge-building created through our social interactions," he said.

Additionally, Specification Rubber partners in Alabaster and surrounding communities with the United Way in the Pacesetter program, which provides gift cards and supplies to the local Shelby Cancer Center, donating items to local food banks and a women's abuse center.

Among other virtues, employees say they enjoy working for Spec Rubber because the company pays a quarterly bonus based on profit-sharing, a program that all employees are eligible for after six months of service.

And like any respectable company in SEC territory, Spec Rubber hosts an August tailgate event to prepare for the upcoming Crimson Tide football season.

Throughout the year, bottled water and Popsicles are provided on a regular basis, especially during the hot Alabama summers, Smith said.

The low turnover rate of 5 percent at Spec Rubber (over the last year) is evidence of a content work force.

"We have an excellent employer relations program," said John Vine, human resources and safety manager at the company. "Any turnover we normally have is in the probationary period, with the potential employee not able to make it through it."

To recruit its work force, Spec Rubber works with 58 Inc., a branch of Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and an economic development program that helps bring industry to the area. The group works hand-in-hand with existing employers such as Spec Rubber to help produce qualified employees by focusing on diversity—and not solely diversity in ethnicity, but diversity in placing military veterans and aging employees on the work force.

Spec Rubber also partners with "Alabama Works," a similar recruitment and retainment program offered through the state.

As for military vet recognition, Spec Rubber posts a large billboard on its front lawn during the week of Veterans Day so that traffic going by on the busy highway near the company can take note of Spec Rubber's veteran colleagues.

And each Veterans Day, the company posts pictures of its veterans on social media platforms to recognize them.

"When seeking new hires to join our work force, Spec Rubber takes great emphasis on veteran candidates," Smith said. "We know these are well-disciplined individuals who possess a great work ethic and know how to work in a team setting. To us, these are ideal workers.

"Through these type programs, we have incredible opportunities to increase our diversity within our work force, to include varying ethnic and culture backgrounds," he continued. "We welcome diversity because together we're better. It is critically important from my seat all the way down to understand that all of us together are smarter than any single one of us."

During 2021, Specification Rubber changed the clocking-in and -out procedures for wage team members by requiring supervisors to manually clock them in and out to restrict the number of team members at the time clock at the beginning and end of shifts.

The company also separated the plant into quadrants to maximize social distancing, and within those quadrants, provided a communication board, break area, bottled water and personal lockers for team members.

In addition, a vacation donation program was implemented to allow employees to donate up to three vacation days to assist fellow team members who are not yet eligible for PTO, in the event they are affected by COVID-19.

Plant-wide announcements are made twice per day, on each shift, to reinforce social distancing and masking protocols for non-fully vaccinated team members.

"And this also relates to retention," Smith said. "With these open-door policies and the engagement that management has on the shop floor—knowing employees' hobbies and what they like—we intentionally develop this investment so that they know us and we know them. It is amazing how involved people can be when they know management is listening."

Heading in to 2022, Spec Rubber will look to invest once again in the company with capital improvements, as Spec Rubber has every year with an average of between $1.2 million and $1.5 million in upgrades to equipment and production lines.

This year, Spec Rubber is planning on close to $3.5 million in capital investments.

"We will be on a hiring spree at that point as well," Helton said. "We will look to grow our work force by about 20 people."

The hurdles are many for the rubber product company moving forward, and Spec Rubber, with the full force of its tight-knit team, is facing them head on.

Lead times from suppliers have increased by 25 percent or more, Smith said, and being proactive will help the company in 2022 as it did in 2021.

"We did have the foresight and wisdom to overreact rather than under-react," he said. "We adjusted stock levels and drastically altered how we ran our day-to-day business. Spec Rubber takes tremendous pride in being a good business partner, as we try to be as good to our vendors as they are to us.

"This is part of our success."

The outgoing nature of Spec Rubber is not lost on vendors, either, as the company takes home Rubber News' 2021 Best Places to Work recognition.

"It is a pleasure to work with the entire team at Specification Rubber," said Hope Melton, sales manager with Barco L.L.C. "We've come to view them as more than customers—they are friends and associates. Congratulations."