Rubbermaid Incorporated

RUBBERMAID INCORPORATED

Rubbermaid Incorporated was the product of two founding businesses—one, a maker of toy balloons, and the other, the designer of a better dustpan. The Wooster Rubber Company started in May 1920, when nine Wooster, Ohio, investors pooled $26,800 to form a company to manufacture toy balloons, sold under the Sunshine brand name. Wooster Rubber was housed in a single building in Wooster—a small town 50 miles from Cleveland, Ohio. In 1927 Horatio B. Ebert and Errett M. Grable, two Aluminum Company of America executives, bought Wooster Rubber. By the late 1920s a new factory and office building had been constructed to house the prosperous business, but the fortunes of Wooster Rubber sunk during the Great Depression (1929–1939). In 1934 Ebert spotted Rubbermaid products in a New England department store, and he worked out a merger between the two firms.

Meanwhile, New Englander James R. Caldwell, who had first entered the rubber business as an employee of the Seamless Rubber Company in New Haven, Connecticut, looked around his kitchen during the depths of the Great Depression to see what he could improve. Caldwell and his wife conceptualized and developed 29 products, among them a red rubber dustpan. Although the rubber dustpan, designed and manufactured by Caldwell and his wife, cost $1.00— much more than the 39-cent metal pans then available in stores—Caldwell "rang ten doorbells and sold nine dustpans," as he recalled in an interview published in the New York Times on May 19, 1974. Convinced there was a market for his products, Caldwell gave his enterprise a name—Rubbermaid—and expanded his line to include a soap dish, a sink plug, and a drainboard mat—products he sold in department stores throughout New England.

In 1934, Ebert spotted Rubbermaid products at a New England department store, and believing that such products could help his struggling Wooster Rubber, he engineered a merger of the two enterprises in July 1934. Still called the Wooster Rubber Company, the new group began to produce rubber household goods under the Rubbermaid brand name. With the merger, which was under Caldwell's leadership, Wooster Rubber had a happy reversal in fortunes; sales rose from $80,000 in 1935 to $450,000 in 1941. Of the 29 new products Caldwell and his wife thought up in their kitchen in 1933, the company had marketed 27 of them by 1941.

In 1942 however, U.S. involvement in World War II (1939–1945) caused the government to cut back on civilian use of rubber, which was also had important military uses. This eliminated Rubbermaid's housewares business, but the company was able to convert to military manufacturing. Beginning with rubber parts for a self-sealing fuel tank for warplanes, and moving on to other products such as life jackets and rubber tourniquets, the company manufactured military goods throughout the end of the war.

Following the war Wooster Rubber resumed its prewar production of rubber housewares. Because wartime shortages had not yet been completely redressed, no coloring agents were available and all Rubbermaid products were manufactured in black for several months. In 1947 the company introduced a line of rubber automotive accessories, including rubber floor mats and cup holders.

In 1955 the Wooster Rubber Company went public. This capital infusion allowed the company to branch into plastic products, and in 1956 a plastic dishpan was introduced. In 1957 the Wooster Rubber Company changed its name to Rubbermaid Incorporated to increase its association with its well-known brand name. The following year Rubbermaid began its first expansion beyond production of household goods when the company broadened its targeted market to include restaurants, hotels, and other institutions. Rubbermaid initially produced bathtub mats and doormats for these clients. By 1974 industrial and commercial products provided 25 percent of the company's sales.

Following the 1970s, during which the company made ill-fated ventures into motorboats and snow sleds, Rubbermaid refocused on home and commercial products in the early 1980s. Rubbermaid also expanded through acquisitions. The company added the Con-Tact brand of decorative plastic coverings in 1981; Little Tikes, a maker of plastic toys, in 1984; Empire Brushes, a leading U.S. maker of brooms, mops, and brushes, in 1994; the Graco brand of strollers, play yards, and infant swings in 1996; and Century Products, a manufacturer of car seats and strollers, in 1998. Then in March 1999, Newell, a housewares manufacturer based in Freeport, Illinois, purchased Rubbermaid for $6 billion. Newell then changed its own name to Newell Rubbermaid Inc. in tribute to the reputation of the Rubbermaid name.

FURTHER READING

Christensen, Jean. "How Rubbermaid Invites Profits." New York Times, May 19, 1974.

Deutsch, Claudia H. "A Giant Awakens, to Yawns: Is Rubbermaid Reacting Too Late." New York Times, December 22, 1996.

Farnham, Alan. "America's Most Admired Company." Fortune, February 7, 1994.

Noble, Donald E. Like Only Yesterday: The Memoirs of Donald E. Noble. Wooster, OH: Wooster Book Co., 1996.

Ozanian, Michael K. and Alexandra Ourusoff. "Never Let Them See You Sweat: Just Because Rubbermaid Is One of the Most Admired Companies in the Country Doesn't Mean Life Is Easy." Financial World, February 1, 1994.

Smith, Lee. "Rubbermaid Goes Thump." Fortune, October 2, 1995.

Stevens, Tim. "Where the Rubber Meets the Road." Industry Week, March 20, 1995.

although his rubber dustpan cost $1.00—much more than the 39-cent metal pans then available in stores, james r. caldwell "rang ten doorbells and sold nine dustpans."