Randy Reed, ABC Polymer
written by: Michelle Amaral | photos by: Staff Photographer
Robert (Randy) Reed is grateful for many things in his life. He’s indebted to several local businesses that aided his efforts to resurrect what is now ABC Polymer Industries, a company located in Helena for which he serves as President. He’s grateful for Dr. Martin Heslin, a UAB physician whose genuine concern and expertise in cancer biology resulted in a two-year extension of his father’s life. But perhaps most of all, Reed is thankful for a little piece of advice his father gave him when he decided he was ready to move off to the big city.
“My father told me a long time ago that you can do just about anything you want, short of trading foreign currency, right here in Birmingham. He pointed out that it’s a great place to raise a family and, as for traveling, he said one day I would hopefully have the means to visit some of the more glamorous cities out there.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in finance from Auburn University, Reed returned to Birmingham and spent several years in the banking industry while completing his master’s degree in management at Birmingham Southern College. But in 1994, at the tender age of 27, he was presented with the ultimate challenge: his family had purchased the assets of a local company that was bankrupt, Allied Flexible Products, and it was Reed’s responsibility to rebuild it.
“There’s something to be said for being young and dumb. I didn’t even have time to think about the endeavor, and I knew failure was not an option.”
In its infantile stage, the company solely produced specialty bags for the explosives industry, picking up where Allied Flexible Products left off, but today ABC Polymer Industries has greatly expanded the number of product lines they offer … and also the market to whom they sell. Currently, one of the most in-demand products is polypropylene yarn, a material that has a high affinity for oil. Truckloads of these pom-pom shaped fibers are being sent to the Gulf of Mexico each day to aid clean up efforts following the BP oil spill. Another of their far-reaching products is the company’s Erosion Control Fibers, which are used to support unstable soil conditions; this material will be a component of the playing field at every stadium participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, which begins this week.
The road to success certainly wasn’t easy, however. Allied Flexible Products, which had closed its doors 18 months prior to Reed’s undertaking, was best known for making the specialty bags used in the explosives industry. Reed’s strategy was to locate the workers who had been laid off and then offer them their old job.
“We tried to rehire the employees from the predecessor company; these are the people who knew the processes and knew how to make the products,” Reed says. “But at the same time, we had to convince these people who had previously lost their jobs that we could actually make it work this time.”
Fortunately for Reed, Allied Flexible Products had maintained a close family environment within their workforce. The former employees were excited about the opportunity and were ready to come “home”. To this day, Reed credits much of the success of ABC Polymer Industries to the employees.
“The success we have achieved here is directly attributable to our people,” he says. “I believe they are the most important asset we have at the company; I feel fortunate to work with them.”
Another tough component was convincing the former customers of Allied Flexible Products to give the new company a chance. After all, most of these customers had large, regular orders, so when Allied Flexible Products went out of business, they struggled to find other companies that manufactured the same products. Much credibility was given to the new effort, though, through the presence of two investors – Reed’s father, Robert E. Reed, and his father-in-law, James Todd, Jr., who served as Chairman and CEO of RealtySouth and Birmingham Steel, respectively. Their proven success and leadership in the community encouraged many customers to return.
These two men were also instrumental in advising Reed along the way.
“It was invaluable to have the involvement of my father-in-law and, early on, my father because they were great sounding boards; I tried to soak up everything I could from them. These days, I look to my father-in-law and my brother, Scott Reed, for advice or to bounce around ideas. They are always a phone call away, and they deserve a lot of credit.”
Thus, with the support of numerous key citizens of Birmingham, Reed has successfully endured hardship and entrepreneurial challenges, and today enjoys the success of ABC Polymer Industries. He remains keenly aware that he could not have done it alone.
“We’re very indebted to other Alabama companies that helped us get our start,” Reed says. “As I look back at the development of our company, the common denominator has always been other Alabama-based companies that helped us start each product line we have.”
Companies like Nelson Brothers, one of the nation’s largest explosives manufacturers with headquarters in Birmingham; Riverside Refractories, a local company that sells flexible intermediate bulk containers nationwide; Sherman Industries under the leadership of Danny Rogers and Frank Anderson; and local concrete ready mix producers were immensely helpful in making ABC Polymer Industries what it is today.
But that’s how we roll in Birmingham, Alabama. It’s all about people helping people. It’s the coming together of ideas and the community that makes us strong and reinforces our efforts. We hold each other up when the going gets tough.
Read the rest of the story next Monday to learn how the Reed family channeled a personal tragedy into a renowned Birmingham non-profit by founding the Robert E. Reed Gastroenterology Oncology Research Foundation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
