Founder and CEO George Halages on the production floor at Archer Advanced Rubber Components
Archer Advanced Rubber Components is celebrating 25 years in business. The firm has grown from four employees to nearly 200 and has become one of the Southeast's largest manufacturers of seals, gaskets and molded rubber components.
The company originally offered seals and gaskets to manufacturers of products like irrigation systems, outdoor power equipment and appliances. Co-founders George Halages and Alyssa White handled much of the work themselves and faced steep learning curves on all fronts.
"Our very first order was for 50,000 pieces of a lathe-cut part, and it took us almost eight weeks to make them," Halages said. "Now, we could fulfill that same order in about 8 hours."
Persistent focus on customer satisfaction paid off over the next decade. Archer expanded steadily, reaching $9 million in annual sales by 2009 when the financial crisis hit the industry hard. But as competitors were giving up and closing their doors, Halages saw an opportunity to dramatically improve Archer's capabilities.
Then, as now, Archer's core business consisted of four main product lines: lathe-cut, extruded, die-cut and molded rubber components. Until 2009, the company manufactured the lathe cuts in its Winston-Salem, NC, facility, while the other products were outsourced. By purchasing the assets of other manufacturers, Archer was able to bring in-house the majority of its product manufacturing.
"We acquired an extrusion company; we acquired a die-cutting company; we built a molded products capability," Halages said. "So, we went from manufacturing about 30% of our products on-site to now 80% being made right here in North Carolina." Creating quality jobs in Winston-Salem is important to Halages, who raised his children there and is dedicated, alongside Archer employees, to serving the community through several company-sponsored charitable projects each year.
Archer is also committed to continually upgrading its material expertise, process technology and overall capabilities. According to Troy Scott, Archer's EVP of Sales and Marketing, the company is laser-focused on solving customers' technical problems. "We leverage our engineering and advanced materials expertise to deliver custom-engineered solutions that meet diverse industry needs," he said.
Today, Archer produces seals, gaskets and custom-molded rubber components for original equipment manufacturers across the globe. "We care deeply about our customers' success and support them with engineered solutions, quality products and exceptional customer service," Scott said. "We offer a comprehensive range of product and process capabilities with the flexibility of either domestic manufacturing or global sourcing."
For more information contact:
Archer Advanced Rubber Components
2860 Lowery Street
Winston Salem, NC 27101
336-996-7776
www.archerseal.com