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Monmouth CEO trained at Bedford plant in 1960s

A New Jersey man groomed in the production and marketing of closed cell rubber products by the Rubatex Corporation back in the early 1960s could revive the once-thriving, local industrial giant.

John M. Bonforte, Sr., who started his business career in 1961 with the Rubatex Corporation, then founded Monmouth Corporation, a company that later became a major Rubatex competitor in the cellular rubber manufacturing industry, announced Tuesday his interest in possibly moving the New Jersey business to the soon-to-closed Rubatex facility in Bedford.

Bonforte said his company, which has 47 employees and is located in Long Branch, New Jersey, makes the same products as Rubatex. The New Jersey plant must relocate because it is in a redevelopment zone located two blocks from the Atlantic coast.

If things work out, that move could place Bonforte's operations in the City of Bedford.

Reached at his corporate office, Bonforte stated his intent to discuss with Bedford officials the possibility of relocating his facility to the city's Rubatex property.

On Feb. 2, officials at RBX Corp., the holding company for RBX Industries, said they intended to close the Rubatex plant in April and lay off the manufacturer's dramatically reduced work force. Only 30 full-time employees, and another 34 on-call workers, remain at a facility that once employed 1,000 people. Rubatex had done business in Bedford since 1935 and was a key manufacturer of closed-cell rubber for wetsuits, gaskets and other rubber products.

"I used to be with Rubatex in the early '60s, during its heyday," said Bonforte, 62. "I couldn't have worked for a finer company," under the tutelage and management of Bill Walters, then CEO of the Bedford operation.

"He (Bill Walters) was a hard working man, my mentor, my idol. I spent a lot of time learning at Rubatex."

Bonforte honed sales and marketing skills at the Bedford plant, and, in 1963, went into product development, where he formulated Bondtex, the material used as expansion joint material in concrete.

"That was my rising star, as an individual young kid, my claim to fame," Bonforte said.

Rubatex, too, was a stellar producer in the closed-cell rubber market, with a goal of $1 million a month in 1961-1962.

The Bedford industry "owned the market" on wetsuit material back in the '60s. But 30 years later, strong competition from Asia changed all that.

"I was doing consulting in Asia in the 1990s," Bonforte recalled. "Rubatex had only $14 to $16 million in wetsuit material then...and a company in Taiwan was doing $500 million."

Distant investors and out of town management hurt the local company, Bonforte feels. The marketplace is now a global one and hands-on, local management, by people who live in the community and understand its workforce, is back in style as the most viable tool in running a successful corporation.

"They (RBX officials) say it's (unfavorable) market conditions, but the business is a viable one...I'm in it," Bonforte said.

As with many companies that enjoy enduring success, and profit, employees need to feel a sense of community, and ownership, of the product they produce. Bonforte said his operation thrives because of that corporate philosophy, a one-on-one relationship between top management and all employees, whose feedback and ideas are actively sought. Monmouth's goal makes all employees an integral part of the sales team, whether they are involved in marketing, or maintenance.

"Everything a person does, they are a part of sales, or sales prevention, Bonforte said.

"We're competing with places like Taiwan, there the people running corporations are the second generation of a family owned business. These kids are smart...they are (often) educated in the United States, they go back. They are totally fluent in several languages, and well trained in computer and business skills. You have to know the enemy and understand it," in order to compete. " Then you adjust your thinking. It's all over the planet, and they're working smart."

Rubatex encountered difficulties, too, because its line of products became spread too thinly to endure increasingly fierce competition, according to Bonforte. Instead of developing an extensive product line, the company should have done a thorough market survey 30 years ago, focused on a few product lines and brought them up to state of the art.

"Somehow, they lost their way. "These businesses are like farms. You have to work the farm (yourself). You can't bring in people who don't know the people, nor the culture of an area. Unless you have a skilled, local management team to manage people, and the product, you have no business."

Bonforte said he learned of Rubatex's imminent closure two days before a letter from RBA officials announcing it, through close contacts in the industry and his own observations.

"You keep your ear to the ground," he said.

Monmouth Rubber and Plastics Corporation is a privately held, "C" corporation with 100 percent of the stock owned by Bonforte, its founder and president. The company was established in 1964 as Monmouth Rubber Corporation. In 1995, it changed its "doing business as" name to Monmouth Rubber and Plastics Corporation.

Between 1964 and 1968, the company operated as a fabricator of cellular rubber and plastics materials, initially drawing on Bonforte's background with Rubatex in sales, marketing and product development.

In 1968, Monmouth Rubber made the transition from a fabricator to a basic manufacturer of cellular rubber and plastic materials. Between 1968 and 1988, the business focus shifted to the development of leading edge technology for cellular cross linked materials in both rubber and plastics, and the blend technology of similar and dissimilar rubber and plastic materials. Monmouth, in turn, sold this technology to other companies. At the same time, Monmouth maintained a modest presence in the commercial production and sale of cellular products. As a leader and innovator of closed cell crosslinking technology and polymer blend technology, Monmouth was retained to do product development and improvement by several companies, including Uniroyal Chemical of Indiana, the B.F. Goodrich Sponge Products Division in Connecticut, Plymouth Rubber of Massachusetts, and the Sentinel Corporation, also of Massachusetts.

During the years 1996 and 1997, Monmouth invested more than $1.5 million in cellular and solid rubber and plastic manufacturing equipment, which, according to the company, is state of the art, worldscale production equipment.

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