Foam Fabricators Inc.

When Polyfoam sold out its plants to Tuscarora, I opted to go to work for another company that was more stable. I chose to work for Foam Fabricators, http://www.foamfabricatorsinc.com/ they chose to put me in another new plant setup situation. Mark Sabolcik was Vice President over the region I went o work in; he was definitely a pleasure to work with over the years I was there. I started out in a plant in Minooka Ill. with the knowledge that we were going to relocate all the equipment to a new location in Fort Madison Iowa soon. All the details were not finalized as of yet so We had to keep the existing plant running for some time without doing a lot of upgrades to the facility at this time. Then the time came to make the move and it was a Fun yet challenging period, keeping customers supplied while taking machinery from one plant refurbishing it as needed and then installing it in the new plant. There was also a lot of new equipment bought and assembled in the new plant we had a large deal of success, using many people from other plants in the company and working as a tight knit team. I really enjoyed working with Foam Fabricators and all the people there and again chose to move to another plant that was in need of strong leadership for a large expansion, when I went to the existing Jefferson Georgia plant.

Polyfam Packers Corp

I moved from Colorado Springs back to the Midwest and went to work for another growing company. Polyfoam Packers Corp, owned by Mort Rosen. Here I was brought into a plant that was recently bought by Polyfoam, in Waukegan Illinois. I went to work with Gary Haas and we had the task of bringing this existing plant up to modern standards. A lot of new equipment was brought in, Kurtz molding presses, plus bigger boilers and air compressors to handle the new equipment. We worked a lot of hours assembling and setting up all this new equipment. We were still sending a lot of product downstate to another growing customer and soon realized we needed to build a plant closer to cut their freight and keep the business. When Polyfoam decided to build the plant in Effingham Illinois, I volunteered to go down and start it up, then manage its day today operations. For 6 years we grew and expanded the building several times there. Then when a new block plant was built in Waukegan Ill on Sunset ave. I was again on the ground floor helping with the setup. Another opportunity came when we move a smaller plant from wheeling Illinois to Michigan City Indiana. I moved there to take over the move and operations of this plant. Then when Polyfoam wanted to build a plant in Mt Pleasant Tennessee, I was asked if I would be available to head up and run that operation, Due to some unforeseen economic issues from our customer ( moving to China) the plant was short lived and sold to a competitor shortly after startup (Tuscarora plastics). I was told I was needed back in Michigan City In, so once again I made the move for the company. To my surprise and dismay they shortly sold this plant too.

Move to another College

I went from Olivet, to The Nazarene Bible College in Colorado Springs in 1981. This college was geared more towards married couple with Children, (since we had our first child in Dec 1980). There I took my first Job in the Plastics / EPS industry, at a company called Styro-Molders Corp. Here I worked for Walter Hieronymus, Ed Hieronymus and Bill Watkins. I started off on the third shift doing a brand new operation for the company. They had just started the process of making “foam-in-place moldings” This was a process where we made wooden molds that were hinged so they would create a closed cavity, that we would then line with a plastic, and spray a mixture into the box that when combined it would expand and fill the mold with polyurethane material. When the material cured we would open the mold and pull out a completed packaging item. Being on the ground floor of this operations taught me a lot and built my abilities for learning, training and patience. Over the course of the six years I spent at Styro-Molders I filled many different positions. There was the fabricating side, Saws, Slitters, Die cutting Gluing, Heat bonding, Contour cutters etc. Then I also worked with our Pattern and tool maker Bill Magill, making molds and specialty equipment for cutting foam and such. I ran the preexpanders and PELASPAN-PAC equipment. Eventually I was the production manager in the custom molded area of the plant we had a lot of older equipment such as Loeffler’s, Springfield’s and kohler General’s. We did install a lot of new equipment while I was there. 5 new heitz vacuum presses a new Dingledein block mold, and new boilers and accumulators to handle the new loads.

When I left Indiana to go to College at Olivet Nazarene University, http://www.olivetuniversity.edu/ , I worked at a full service gas station there, "Smith Oil Co" . This was back when you had an attendent there to fill your gas tank, that was me. In a short time I was chosen to be the opener at the station. Being the first one there checking the tanks for the volume of fuel and filling out the reports for the day, then unlocking the doors for the rest of the employees and customers. This was an interesting job, we did a little bit of sales, by checking oil, belts and windshield wipers while we were giving the full service of filling gas and washing windows.

Full time 2

Continuing to work at R.E. Jackson through the rest of My high school years, I enjoyed many happy and productive Lessons. My Boss and my mentor Terry K. Shelly was always there to direct and lead me as a worker and a young man. I have a lot of memories that could be said of this Job. I do remember when we Built the new building on Marina Drive in Elkhart, then we moved much of the machinery from Phillips street and Greenvile Michigan into that new Facility. I was very involved in all the aspects of this company as it grew. I continued to learn more welding skills here and ran Punch presses, Drill presses, Lathes and Mills as needed. We began to produce more Items here such as Emergency escape hatches for bus and train, door and cargo panels. It was all very rewarding and I so enjoyed all I learned at this time. I also remember a large Government contract we worked on, building many Aluminum cargo boxes for the Military to drop into battlefields or for Humanitarian supplies.

Full Time

After these evening Jobs, I got another full time summer job at a company in Elkhart Indiana.

Now owned by Dynamic Metals www.dynamicmetalsllc.com/jackson.html . It was the

R.E. Jackson co. at the time. They started out in a small building on Phillips street, across from where I went to High School Elkhart Memorial http://www.emhschargers.org/ I started working here doing all sorts of fun jobs, I would tear down window units and rebuilding them to go back into trains and buses. Polishing the glass panes and resealing the units to create a double paned unit. We also ran a paint line for many different trim parts I did both the cleaning and then later learned to mix and spray the paints, trained by a couple of very experienced painters. The R. E. Jackson company started in Greenville Michigan, there was still a plant up there that did some punch press operation and some custom bending of rods to make Fold down table units in R V's. I was often used to deliver and pickup parts between the two plant using a company straight truck.

More Nights

I also worked for a short time in the RV industry. I worked at a motorized assembly plant in Middlebury on the third shift assembling the side walls of motorhomes, I was on the line gluing in the insulating sheets as the walls were built. Another enjoyable job and more skills learned, I was happy to have had this chance and experience as well.