Chamber Chat With Polyvance
By Sherri Blevins
David Holt, Chamber Chat Host, recently interviewed Sandy Goff concerning the upcoming Rainsville Chamber of Commerce events. Kurt Lammon joint owner with his brother Keith Lammon of Polyvance was the spotlight guest.
Goff invited the area business professionals to the Administrative Professional Day Luncheon on April 24, 2019, at the Tom Bevill Enrichment Center. Interested parties may purchase tickets through the Chamber. Karen Smith will speak to the attendees about fostering children. Carolyn Hale will provide catering for the event.
On May 16, 2019, the Rainsville Chamber of Commerce will award scholarships to twelve deserving seniors. Eleven are Plainview recipients, and one is a Cornerstone senior. The chamber representative will present the scholarships at the schools’ awards day programs. The annual Chamber Golf Tournament is the source of funding for the scholarships.
Holt interviewed Polyvance owner, Kurt Lammon and discovered the history and mission of the worldwide award-winning business. Polyvance started under the name, Urethane Supply Company and was founded in 1981 by Jim and Jerry Sparks. At the time of its birth, the company’s purpose was producing items needed in the repair and refinishing of urethane bumper covers. Since that time, plastic bumpers have replaced earlier ones, and the company has evolved into a company whose mission is to help body shops profit from plastic repair and refinishing through its innovative products and training. The company provides everything needed to repair and refinish automotive plastic. The name change occurred in 2016 to better fit what the company does.
Holt asked Lammon how he came to own the business. Lammon stated, “In 1995, my father, my brother, and I were looking for a small business to operate. Jim Sparks had a goal to retire at age 55. My family was living in Chattanooga at the time. We saw Urethane Supply Company listed through a business brokerage. My bother and I are both car nuts and thought this business would be a good fit for our interest and for the types of products we could create. I have an engineering background, and his background is in accounting. We knew there was a need for this type of product all over the world. Jim had already exported the product to Canada and New Zealand. We purchased the business and eventually went to a trade show in Germany called, “Automechanica”. We found great contacts in Europe, and now we are also gaining customers in Latin America and Asia.”
Polyvance recently received the 2019 Governor’s Trade Excellence Award for its accomplishments in exporting. Ten percent of its sales come from exports. There were only eight of these awards given statewide.
Holt also questioned Lammon about the local workforce. He replied, “We have a very skilled, hard-working workforce in Rainsville. We are fortunate to have some longtime employees working for us. Jason Bethune has been with the company since 1994. We have a very strong group of employees.”
In addition to the manufacturing of plastic repair materials, Polyvance also houses Encore Bumpers, a reconditioning company that services local body shops with reconditioned bumper covers. Encore’s mission is to help local body shops profit from plastic repair and refinishing through its innovative products and training. He stated, “If a local body shop needs a particular type of bumper, they call us. We can see if we have one. If we do, we use the core and remanufacture the bumper. We do the welding and the primer for the local body shop. We don’t paint bumpers. This saves the local body shop and the owner some money and keeps used bumpers out of the landfills.”
Lammon also invests in the lives of the area youths. He is involved in the Skills USA program. This program allows high school technical school students an opportunity to showcase their trade skills through state and national competitions. Lammon had some advice for those students looking for their future careers. He said, “Currently, there are 32,000 job openings in the United States in the auto repair industry. People coming out of school can make between $40,000.00 and $60,000.00 per year after only a few years in the industry. If you are a top painter or top technician, you can make over $100,000.00 yearly. Skill trades are a very important part of our economy.”