Romeo RIM featured in Manufacturing in Focus magazine - Romeo RIM

• Company, Manufacturing, Materials, Process Technology
• 0 Comments

Here’s a snippet from our feature article in Manufacturing in Focus magazine…

The village of Romeo, Michigan, is usually recognized for its annual peach festival and as the birthplace of not one but two professional baseball players. While these check the boxes for a village’s typical claims to fame, you need only stroll down Van Dyke Avenue to find something truly unique and innovative…

What had once been a Firestone tire and rubber company called Romeo RIM came to life in 1982 with the acquisition of assets from the Firestone branch. Named for the village in which it resides and the technology it uses in the manufacturing process, Romeo RIM produces quality products while shaking up the process with consistent implementation of innovation.

“Most people think of RIM as ‘oh you guys make rims,’ but it’s actually an acronym for reaction injection molding,” laughed Matt Getty, Vice President of Business Development.

The reaction injection molding process is a method in which lightweight thermoset polymers –synthetics made stronger by being heated – are mixed at high velocity and initially at low temperatures. A high-pressure pump system circulates isocyanate and polyol at high speed before allowing them to combine. The mixed polymer is set in a mold and heated to about 180 degrees Fahrenheit to cure. While the size of the product determines the time needed to cure, this process still only take several minutes. Since less energy is needed for liquid polymers, it has proven to be more cost-effective than cast metals and the end product is far more aesthetically pleasing.

Read more at Manufacturing in Focus magazine >