Success suctions to Adams Manufacturing
PORTERSVILLE — When Bill Adams thinks about the future of his suction cup business, there is one thing he knows for sure: it's going to hold on for a long time.
Adams, who has more than 145 patents for the suction cups he distributes out of plants in Portersville and Ellwood City, is the owner of Adams Manufacturing Corp. and has been going strong for more than 20 years. The main plant in Portersville on Route 19 is about 60,000 square feet and includes an office building for administrative staff.
Another facility on Route 422 is built on three acres, and the two buildings in Ellwood City are built on 19 acres. Adams Manufacturing employs more than 275 people.
But before success, the company began as a one-man business in the late 1970s until it became incorporated in 1983.
"My grandfather died and left me $10,000. So I quit my job as a school librarian and invented a product," Adams said.
Today, his business is the largest distributor of suction cups in the world.
After receiving his inheritance, Adams spent all his money on suction cups, thumbtacks and bubble wrap to create storm windows for attics and basements. He approached stores with a dream and a lot to learn.
"It was a good idea, but we had no idea how to sell this," Adams said. "So there I was with no money and hundreds of boxes of suction cups and thumbtacks and nothing to do with them."
While Adams tried to sell the suction cups with hooks out of the trunk of his car, he drove past a tire store with large sale signs hung with duct tape on the windows. That's when his business-changing strategy struck him.
"I thought to scrape all that duct tape residue off the glass is a lot of extra work, so why don't they take the suction cups with the tacks, and it would save all that work," Adams said.
He approached the owner of the store, sold two boxes of suction cups and tacks that day, and the rest is history.
"The next day, I drove around from gas station to gas station, and every one of them bought a box of suction cups," he said. "I had so many $1 bills, I couldn't close my billfold. I couldn't believe it."
From the trunk of his car and into a large garage, Adams Manufacturing Corp. grew to three plants and one storage warehouse.
Adams said he has come a long way from the days he used to drive all over the state to sell his product after running machines out of his garage. Taking a risk was the only thing he could do.
"We borrowed the money to buy a couple of injection molding machines, and it was very expensive," Adams said "I didn't know what we were doing. It was just by guess, and by golly, and a lot of prayer."
Adams then began to discover easier and more lucrative ways to sell his product.
"I realized that there were distribution systems in place, so I called up True Value Hardware and told them that I was going to about 100 stores every month and said, 'If you buy direct from me, you can buy them for your stores, and I won't have to drive around anymore, and you end up making more money,'" he said.
The plan worked. Adams hired a sales representative and started selling to major markets and hardware distributors.
He said with his determination, he has achieved a worldwide business that ships millions of suction cups across the globe every year.
"We have always sold some internationally, and we have good distribution in England and Central America," Adams said. "It helped get us established."It's very hard to get lines into large retailers, and we have about 145 patents altogether, and a lot of them are centered on suction cups."The suction cups are injection molded. Plastic pellets are put into a liquid state and forced into a cavity. Cold water is pumped through the mold and cools it off. The mold opens, the suction cup is ejected and drops onto post-production machinery, which develops, cures and packages the suction cups.Adams said technology has highly improved the quality of his product."It has allowed us to make far more suction cups and other products with much better quality," Adams said. "It has allowed us to achieve repeatability so there are no changes in dimensions or anything that could adversely affect quality."In addition to suction cups, Adams said he is building the future of his company by expanding his products to include magnets and plastic furniture.At the factory on Route 422, plant workers operate the large machines that produce the products, whether it's the smallest output of a suction cup that weighs one gram, to a plastic, 22-pound chase lounge.The plastic is mixed with water that has a precisely controlled temperature, which is processed through a huge, funnellike machine. The cup is then molded, spit out and inspected by workers at light tables throughout the building.Packaging the product also is a careful task in making sure each cup is separated to prevent sticky situations."We package them in such a way so there is no distortion or marring of the surface of the cups, so that they maintain a tight seal when they are in use, which is critical," Adams said. "Each cup is treated differently, depending on the size, and is packed in such a way that any distortion is minimized."Operations manager David Fountain, who has been with Adams Manufacturing since 1988, said it is not hard to work for a company that appreciates its employees."The company is great to work for, and that says it all," Fountain said. "You can advance, the wages are competitive, and I have to say it's a family-oriented company. Even the owner believes family comes first, so he puts employees way up there."Fountain said the company also has been an economic asset to the Portersville community."The jobs are number one. We have a lot of jobs here, and that's the biggest reason," Fountain said. "The community needs jobs, and we have a good benefits package, and we pay more than minimum wage even for entry level positions as well."Adams said he holds onto his attention to detail with every product he makes and still strives to create the best of the best when it comes to suction cups."There are few things harder to make consistently than suction cups," Adams said "The parameters of temperature and pressure is very tight, the material analysis is ongoing, and they have to be perfect, because a bad suction cup simply won't work."Adams said he is glad he took a chance on a product that many view as simple, but in actuality, remains quite complex."Nobody was really taking suction cups seriously when I started," Adams said. "There were just a couple guys doing it part time, but it was the beginning of a product line."
