NE Ohio reviving 'rubber capital' claim

CLEVELAND (June 27, 2016) — Akron. In Latin, it means “pinnacle of polymer science.”

OK, that's a lie. But for much of the last century and continuing today, the city's name has been synonymous with rubber, plastics and the science behind the polymers that make such materials effective, cheap and abundant.

It's a field of science and endeavor that the city continued to nurture, decades after the tire-making jobs that put Akron on the map — making it the so-called “Rubber Capital of the World” — were gone.

The old rubber industry left Akron with some substantial assets in terms of world-leading companies that call the city and region their home, and two major universities that draw students from around the globe to their expertise in polymer science — the University of Akron and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Region of innovation

Some say the region is the Silicon Valley of polymer science.

“That's exactly the reference I make all the time — Silicon Valley,” said Chris Murphy, who is vice president and chief innovation official for the specialty polymer materials company PolyOne Corp., located in Avon Lake, Ohio, just west of Cleveland and about an hour from Akron, Mr. Murphy and others say the region achieved its prominence in the polymer science field similar to the way that Silicon Valley developed its reputation in computer science — by having a core group of companies that worked closely with universities to develop not just the science itself, but a critical mass of knowledge, business endeavors and technical people who provide the workforce that drives it all forward.

Luis Proenza knew of the region's strength in the field when he took over as president of the University of Akron in 1999 — a school long known around the world for its expertise in polymer science.

When he first got to the school, local and state policymakers needed an education, he said — and the university gave it to them. One of the first things the school did under Mr. Proenza was to take stock of the region's and state's polymer science assets.

“We calculated the annual shipment of polymer products at about $50 billion,” he said, “and Ohio was, I believe, the largest employer in terms of polymer-related jobs in the country.”

While it was well known that Akron had lost most of the thousands of jobs once provided by four big rubber companies — Goodyear, Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., BFGoodrich Co. and General Tire & Rubber Co. — it had gone largely unnoticed that the city and surrounding area had become home to about 1,800 other tire industry supply-related companies, many of them small, working in plastics and related fields.

“Nobody realized that, prior to that,” Mr. Proenza said.

The University of Akron's research helped convince those in Ohio's state government to fund more efforts aimed at developing the polymer science field, he said. It spurred the formation of entities like the industry group PolymerOhio, and also got existing state economic development efforts more focused on the sector, Mr. Proenza said.

But is Akron and the “polymer valley” region around it holding on to its position as a world leader in polymer science?

There have been setbacks, most notably at the University of Akron. The school regularly competes with the University of Massachusetts for top honors in polymer science.

Akron U has seen troubles in recent years and is bracing for a 9-percent drop in student enrollment this year and a 23-percent drop in freshman commitments this year as compared to last. Like many schools with a technical specialty, however, Akron has a bit of a split personality. It's been largely a commuter school for most of its general, non-technical programs, but draws students internationally for its vaunted polymer science degrees.

Students from around the world, who often are less price sensitive than local students, continue to flock to the school's polymer science program, said Eric Amis, dean of Akron's College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. That's especially true of the college's post-graduate programs, he said.

“Whenever I'm in (South) Korea, they know about the University of Akron — and it's the same when I go to China,” Mr. Amis said. “So we have a large graduate program — about 350 students. About 125 of them are master's students and the rest are Ph.D. students.”

Many of the companies that work with the university say they have so far seen no reduction in output from the school, in its number of graduates, the quality of their education or the research that the university conducts.

“I don't know what the future holds, but at this point in time it has not impacted our ability to get qualified folks,” said Joe Zekoski, Goodyear's senior vice president and chief technical officer.“We're fortunate to have an early indicator with the interns and co-ops,…and so far I have not seen it (a negative impact.) Our co-op program is still strong and we feel good about that.”

David Zanzig, Goodyear's director of global materials science, added: “I haven't seen any decline in polymer science there, I think that's holding pretty steady.”

Goodyear, university collaborate

Other firms, including PolyOne and suburban Akron-based A. Schulman Inc., echoed those sentiments, but Goodyear might know better than most how the school is doing — it sponsored and works closely with the university's Goodyear Polymer Center, which opened in 1991.

Students don't just come to the school for the education, either. Some come, in part, because they also know that Northeast Ohio is a hotbed for technical jobs in polymer science and related fields.

Mr. Amis said his students have little to no problems finding jobs, especially in Northeast Ohio.

“Certainly, this spring, we're not having any trouble with students getting offers. They're getting four or five offers — which they like, because it gives them a lot of choices,” he said. “I always say that we have ‘essentially' a 100-percent placement rate — because I know if I just say 100 percent, someone will find somebody,…but our students continue to do very well.”

That mix of students and available jobs is the symbiotic, chicken-and-egg relationship that most say makes the region's polymer science work and continue to succeed. It's always a struggle for a region to foster a new industry before there is a critical mass of both industry and educational institutions working together — but Akron already has such a structure in place.

“There's research institutes, government agencies, associations — there really is a great network here — and it makes a lot of sense to be here if you're in the polymer industry,” said A. Schulman President and CEO Bernard Rzepka.

That's why, when Schulman built a new headquarters in 2013, or when it consolidated many of its corporate services this year, it didn't even consider another location.

“We've made a very conscious decision to stay in this area and to reinvest in this area, primarily because of Akron U. But not just because of Akron U.… There are so many benefits to being here, I could talk for probably an hour about that,” Mr. Rzepka said.

Like his counterparts at Goodyear, PolyOne and other companies, Mr. Rzepka said the region is the best place for his company because of the available technical workforce, the opportunity to conduct research at both the University of Akron and Case Western Reserve, University and because there are so many other firms located in the region that can be potential partners on technical and business initiatives.

Even financial subsidies would be unlikely to cause A. Schulman to move, Mr. Rzepka said.

“If someone were to say, 'Come here, you'll be tax free,' we would struggle with it. It's good on the P&L tomorrow, but you don't have the equated people,…and you don't have all the other companies around you. You lose part of your future if you don't have those things,” Mr. Rzepka added.

Such attitudes don't surprise Goodyear's Mr. Zekoski.

“We see that a lot of competitors starting R&D organizations in this area — even those that aren't headquarters here — we assume for these same reasons,” he said.

South Korea's Hankook Tire Co. Ltd.  has had a tech center in the region for 20 years, and in the past 10 years Taiwan-based Kenda and China's Giti Tire Group and Triangle Group Co. Ltd. have all opened technical facilities in and around Akron, while Kumho Tire Co. Ltd., opened one in 1990.

These facilities collectively employ more than 100, most of whom are in highly technical — i.e., high-paying — positions.

Nexen Tire Corp. of South Korea will join this group of five later this year when it opens its own tech center in Richfield, Ohio.

In 2010-12, Bridgestone made one of the biggest commitments, opting to invest $100 million in a new R&D center in the city where the former Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. once had its headquarters, rather than move it closer to its commercial headquarters in Nashville, Tenn.

The city of Akron, Summit County and state of Ohio contributed more than $7.5 million in financial and/or logistics resources to the project to keep the center and its 450-plus high-paying jobs in Akron.  

All of them are here for the region's technical talent, Goodyear's Mr. Zekoski said.

Stability, longevity?

What about the future? The U.S. tire and rubber business is not known as a high-growth industry, and much of the U.S. plastics industry has clustered around the Gulf Coast region, where many of its raw materials are produced.

But, at the same time, the industry's technical needs have increased—medical devices, aerospace applications and vehicle makers seeking to make cars and trucks lighter and more efficient are constantly demanding more from the plastics industry, noted Bruce Fawcett, executive director of PolymerOhio. And while Houston might lead the nation in plastics production, Akron is still the major center for research and development.

Mr. Fawcett, whose group has its headquarters just outside of Columbus, said Akron remains a hotbed for his industry.

Akron's polymer and plastics industry might be getting another boost as well, thanks to a shale-gas drilling boom that's erupted in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

Royal Dutch Shell announced in June that it will build a $4 billion ethane cracker in Pennsylvania about 90 miles east of Akron — something many say will spur more plastics and specialty chemical companies to locate operations near the newfound cheap supply of raw materials.

“Ethane, a natural gas liquid, is the U.S. chemical industry's main feedstock,” the American Chemistry Council noted, as it applauded Shell's big announcement on June 7.

If the cracker is built and attracts the plastics and chemical industry as promised, it could be Akron's second boom in the field of related manufacturing and material science.

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Dan Shingler is a reporter for Crain's Cleveland Business magazine, a sister publication of Tire Business.