By Mike McNulty
Rubber & Plastics News Staff
AKRON—R. Bruce DeMent II thrives on the challenge of being an entrepreneur. The risks can be high, he admits, but the payoffs are big.
"The satisfaction that comes with seeing your business grow and succeed is amazing," the president and CEO of Alsip, Ill.-based Kastalon Inc., a designer and manufacturer of polyurethane goods, said during a recent interview in Akron . He was in town meeting with a company and officials from the University of Akron's engineering co-operative office to fill a need in the firm's new co-op program.
DeMent has been singled out for numerous honors over the years, but one of the highlights was his induction into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame in 2008. He was recognized for his entrepreneurial achievements and for making a lasting impact on Chicago's business landscape.
Since 1990, he has been the prime mover behind the implementation of a key cultural change at Kastalon, creating a highly functioning management structure and lean production practices, according to a spokeswoman for the Chicago Hall of Fame.
That led to growth of more than 300 percent in the last several years.
He also added and expanded a design and engineering department that has created numerous avenues for growth.
The manufacturer's polyurethane parts now are used in various critical systems, including deep sea, weapons handling in military applications, heavy equipment, metals, material handling and space exploration.
In addition, DeMent partnered in the start-up and management of several other successful small businesses in the Chicago area. He eventually sold his interest in all but a recently launched real estate development company.
Included was an innovative restaurant service company, which eventually created an industry because a service sector for handling grease traps at restaurants didn't exist at the time and his company developed methods to recycle the grease.
"I was nominated (for the hall of fame) by people I've met over the years who know me and Kastalon," he said. "They felt it was significant enough just to be nominated."
When the selection committee picked him for the top honor, DeMent was surprised because "I was just doing my job. It would not have been possible to even approach the changes at Kastalon without a dedicated, motivated and highly capable staff. They won the award."
Despite his downplay, DeMent was picked because he worked hard and used foresight to take a little company down new roads to success.
Today the firm is far removed from the one-man operation that was launched in 1963 by DeMent's father, Robert, to cast custom urethane parts. Its first customer was U.S. Steel, a corporation that has remained with Kastalon over the years.
The company was primarily a repair and maintenance business that operated out of a building the size of a one-car garage. In 1995, it moved to bigger quarters and employed five.
Bruce DeMent was a kid at the time but was fascinated by the business. He fully intended to be part of it one day, he said, which is why he went to the University of Akron to get his degree in industrial management.
He joined the business full time in 1974 (he had worked part time at the company since he was 13) after graduating from college, and his passion for industrial engineering quickly provided Kastalon with new growth opportunities.
For the next 16 years, he handled practically every job in the plant. The site's biggest expansion came after 1990 when DeMent began running the company. He officially became president in 1994. By then, he was guiding the firm in a new direction as a leader in the custom design and engineering of polyurethane goods, the hall of fame spokeswoman said.
Entrepreneurship within an existing company is entirely different than with a start-up, according to DeMent, who co-owns Kastalon with his brother Michael. "You're changing an existing culture rather than creating one.
"When my dad started the business, his goal was to make a good living for him and his family. A start-up is a job, and the personality of the founder is imprinted on everything. But it's not a job any more; it's a business in and of itself, with or without the owner. It has professional management systems and structure and can survive without the owner. It won't die because it has direction, character and ability."
On the other hand, he said, in the 1960s and 1970s, if the owner died or left, the business would likely die.
Under DeMent's direction, Kastalon gained ISO certification and expanded regularly. It presently has a work force of 85 operating out of a 60,000-sq.-ft. plant in Alsip, a suburb south of Chicago .
"Business has been excellent à until recently when it slowed down a bit," he said. "It has become significantly more challenging. Our customers have been slowing down. Steel manufacturing, construction, everything has been curtailed in the last two quarters, which has a ripple affect.
"We have not suffered to the degree that our customers have, so I don't anticipate employee reductions."
Kastalon now has six major urethane product lines, all used in niche markets. "And we've maintained and expanded our custom molding operation," DeMent said.
Adding and expanding the design and engineering department—which he labeled as the firm's key growth area of the future' has allowed the company "to take on challenges to find solutions to very daunting applications, primarily in niche markets."
DeMent said he continues to head up Kastalon after working full time at the company for 34 years because "I love this business so much so that I want it to outlive me. I also do it because I make a fine living for myself and my family, and I want to build a future for my family and the people we work with.
"I've been able to do the things I've done at Kastalon because of the people who work here. They allow me to work on the business rather than in it."
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