Our History
From Missiles to Manufacturing
How an aerospace tool and die maker and his wife turned a struggling Gold Country shop into Urethane Specialists.
“Our success came from achieving high precision tolerances with urethane that most manufacturers wouldn’t attempt with metals, and from always being available to take those midnight calls from frantic plant engineers who just had to have replacement parts manufactured in a hurry.”Mike Hodge, founder
Precision at Hughes Aircraft
Through the 1970s and 1980s Mike Hodge worked as a prototype tool and die maker for the Hughes Aircraft Company, Missile Division. He was one of the specialized machinists producing precision components for an anti missile system that was key to the Strategic Defense Initiative.
Those rocket systems relied on exotic materials and miniature parts shaped by end mills measured in thousandths of an inch, approaching the thickness of a human hair. Mike didn’t realize then how well that level of precision would serve him later.
When Hughes was downsized and sold off, Mike was among the hundreds of skilled tradesmen laid off in 1990. He and his wife Kathy pressed on.
A struggling shop in the Gold Country
Mike and Kathy left the heart of the aerospace industry for the hills and valleys of California’s Gold Country. In that unlikely setting they found Sierra Elastomerics, a floundering plastic parts manufacturer. The Hodges used their savings to buy what remained of the company and set out to restore it.
All they had going for them was six months of unfilled back orders, plus their own faith and determination.
A spare bed in the shipping room
With a growing family and only themselves to rely on, Mike needed every hour in the shop to fill orders and keep cash moving. He kept a spare bed in the shipping room and was rarely home. Kathy, who had always added to the family budget by waitressing, started trimming and polishing parts too.
Over time Mike taught Kathy to cast and machine the intricate parts herself. If anything ever happened to him, he told her, she would need to carry on the business so the kids would have a home.
His words proved prophetic when he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident. While Mike recovered with metal plates and screws holding his leg together, Kathy ran the shop: casting, machining, trimming, polishing, packing and shipping, determined to get every order out on time.
“By the time Mike was able to return to work, we had had the best month ever!” Kathy Hodge
Kathy was also blessed with a voice made for radio. Sprinting between the workbench and the front office to take calls, she gave the impression of a much bigger company than a mom and pop shop.
From monothane to polyurethane
Sierra Elastomerics had cast parts from monothane, a single component elastomer that had fallen out of favor with manufacturers. Mike moved the shop to polyurethane, a two component polymer of a prepolymer and a curative with far better engineering properties. Sierra Elastomerics became Urethane Specialists, Inc.
The business grew slowly, on diligence and high standards. “It was all through word of mouth. We never spent a dollar on advertising,” says Kathy. Satisfied buyers referred their friends, and loyal plant engineers brought USI with them as they moved from job to job.
A small part at the Winter Olympics
One of USI’s more notable jobs came from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The shop molded the miniature cones that ringed the speed skating track. Every time a racer clipped a cone on TV, the Hodge children cheered, “There’s another repeat order!”
The work was featured in Sports Illustrated and The Union Democrat in February 2002.
Six weeks to six months
The Hershey Chocolate Company in Hershey, Pennsylvania has been a loyal USI customer for more than 20 years. Its iconic Kisses depend on flag rollers that insert the thin paper flag in the foil wrapper. Hershey’s old rollers lasted about six weeks and caused an unacceptable level of defective wrappers.
Mike developed a new urethane formula that extended roller life from six weeks to six months and significantly reduced defects on the line.
In Mike’s words
Three secrets to a 30 year run
High precision parts
“We are able to achieve high precision tolerances with urethane that most manufacturers wouldn’t attempt with metals.”
Accessibility
“We have always been available to take those midnight calls from frantic plant engineers who just had to have replacement parts manufactured in a hurry.” Once, rushing an order out on Christmas Eve, Mike signed the packing slip “courtesy of S. Claus.”
Faith and hope
“It’s tough to get through the rough times without a sense of humor, and faith in God’s plan.”
2020 and today
Still answering the midnight call
After a 30 year run the Hodges could count their days off on one hand. “We don’t know what we’d do with time off if we had it,” says Kathy. “But Mike does enjoy restoring classic cars and railroad speeders, so we’d probably start there.”
In 2020 Urethane Specialists joined Green Rubber Kennedy Ag, a family run manufacturer and distributor serving the same growers, packers and plants. The standard Mike set for precision, and the habit of picking up the phone when a line is down, still define how the shop runs.
“It’s been a good run,” says Mike. It’s been a good run, indeed.
