A Visit to Alliance Rubber Company

*disclosure*  I toured Alliance Rubber Company as a guest of the Arkansas Women Bloggers and the Alliance Rubber Company.  I have not received any compensation for this post and all opinions are my own.  Alliance Rubber Company has graciously provided me with samples, some of which I am sharing with my readers through a giveaway.  As always, I will neither recommend nor write about a product or company that I, myself, do not personally endorse.  Thanks for reading!

Rubber bands.  My most favorite office supply and weapon of choice in a playful battle around the house.  Except, I’m not very good at shooting them and mostly just end up snapping myself.

Disclosure: rubber bands should not be used as weapons.  You could take your eye out.

I had the opportunity to tour the Alliance Rubber Company this week. How cool is it that rubber bands are made here in the USA-and even more impressive? Right here in Arkansas.

The tour started with a brief history of Alliance which you can read more about here.  As we were heading out to the factory I noticed this awesome graphic that spoke to my HR heart. I felt that we would be experiencing something special as we headed out to meet the Alliance family.

Surprisingly, the process seems simple to the laymen.  The rubber starts out as a amber-isn colored blob, is heated, shoots out to the floor below as a soft looking, noticeably lighter colored foamy substance, is rolled into a rubber sheet, is cut, rolled through a conveyor where it’s cooled for handling, and gathered in metal boxes to be rolled to the next process.

The sheets of rubber are sent through rolling machines that turns them into tubes.  It should be noted that I did not get a picture of this process because I was enthralled with all the loose, colorful rubber bands that were scattered on the ground.

Next, the tubes are flattened and pulled through buckets of water and fed into the cutters.  After the rubber bands are cut they’re fork lifted over to the packagers who are quite quick at putting together boxes!

Obviously, there are probably more steps that I’m either forgetting or missed because I was distracted by all the pretty colors. What I remember most was the laid back feeling of the whole factory.  The air was warm and thick with dust from the rubber.  The employees were friendly, always quick with a smile and a wave, and moving at a pace that suggested quality and consideration are valued greatly. Not that they aren’t productive!  This team “offers over 2,000 sku’s of packaging, Ad Bands®, the world’s first four-color imprinted FotoFlex Bands™, Cable Wrapz®, Gear Strapz®, waterproof UPC-imprinted ProTape® and mailing/shipping supplies.”

Thanks to the Alliance Rubber Company for a peek into their daily operations.  You can read more about them at their website, follow them on Facebook or Twitter, and get some cool tips, tricks, and project ideas over on the blog.

For a fun giveaway and more pics from the tour head over to my Facebook page.