Preferred Compounding Welcomes Future With Stronger Services — and a new brand
BARBERTON, OHIO – Four years of improvements have Preferred Compounding charging into 2010 with strong fundamentals and a well-provisioned tool set for meeting the needs of manufacturers that use custom compounded elastomers. The company is signaling this emergence by introducing a new name, logo and branding.
As of April 19, Preferred Rubber Compounding Corporation is Preferred Compounding. Its new logo includes a five-armed blending swirl representing the mix of long-held values the company brings to each customer relationship. These are summed up in the new tagline: “Preferred performs. You achieve.”
“Preferred has always been customer and quality focused,” says Ken Bloom, president & CEO. “Now we can rapidly price, engineer, deliver and support practically any compound and delivery schedule customers request.”
Preferred increased its specialized capacity and overall production capabilities with the 2006 acquisition of Associated Rubber. Its four plants enable the company to meet tight schedules anywhere east of the Rockies and also provide redundancy. Preferred has connected all locations in the same ERP system, updated compounding controls, beefed up technical and sales staff and implemented more flexible production and purchasing arrangements.
“We take a long-term approach based on daily performance. We find out what it is in the design, engineering and supply of elastomeric compounds that can improve each customer’s business. We then work to find a way to make those benefits happen,” Bloom says. “We believe that if we perform each day, our customers will achieve their objectives.”
Bloom says the five blending “swirls” in the logo represent the five Preferred Compounding values: consistent quality, technical excellence, comprehensive capabilities, pro-active service and relationship focus. Preferred treats each relationship as a partnership, Bloom explains, which enables customers to improve productivity and performance and become more agile and confident.
Preferred Compounding plants are in Tallapossa, Georgia, Huntingdon, Tennessee, Fruithurst, Alabama and Barberton, Ohio, which is also company headquarters. Preferred supplies proprietary and custom mixed rubber compounds, chemical blends and calendered sheet. Customers include molders, extruders, mixers and others in the rubber goods market. Primary industries served are automotive, construction, power generation and roll goods.
Preferred (www.preferredperforms.com) is a portfolio company of The Watermill Group of Lexington, Massachusetts. (www.watermill.com). Watermill helpscompanies reach their true potential as thriving businesses capable of supporting jobs and contributing to their local communities. The firm focuses on investing in companies where there is the opportunity to enhance performance through strategic change, operating improvements, or balance sheet realignments.