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Headquarters
Fontana
Annual sales
$2.5 million
Employs
32
Founded
1976
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A&R Tarpaulins Inc. Vice President Bud Weisbart is flying to Japan today
to negotiate a deal with Taiyo Kogyo Co. to supply emergency shelter
units.
Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, Taiyo Kogyo manufactures tents and vinyl
for structures.
A&R in Fontana manufactures fabric products for space ships, buildings
and trucks. A&R customers include the Navy, NASA and Toyota.
The manufacturer employs 32 workers and is the parent company of AR Tech.
Weisbart began talks with Taiyo Kogyo in July.
Weisbart met Motonobu Nohmura, a family member of the owner in 1998
through the Industrial Fabrics Association International, a nonprofit
trade association headquartered in Roseville, Minn. The two kept up a
friendship over the years.
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CariÑO Casas / The Business Press
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Bud Weisbart is vice president and owner of AR
Tech, a division of A&R Tarpaulins.
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Weisbart and Nohmura discussed A&R providing shelters for use in Japan.
"We built and sent them the prototype in November and we will go to
Japan to make a presentation Feb. 28," Weisbart said Feb. 17. "No deal
has been made yet. The goal of the trip is to get something" such as an
agreement or commitment, he said.
If a deal is made, A&R Taurpalins would manufacture the air awning,
fabric emergency shelters and export them to Japan. Taiyo Kogyo would
distribute the shelters.
A&R generated $2.5 million in revenue in 2004. The manufacturer expects
revenues will increase this year by $300,000 "if the deal with Japan
goes through," Weisbart said.
Not those blue tarps!
A&R manufactures tarps but not the ubiquitous blue ones familiar to
Californians.
"We don't make those blue tarps. I don't even like them," Weisbart said.
"We sell heavy duty 18-ounce tarps for trucks."
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CariÑO Casas / The Business Press
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Martha Ponce cuts material for a protective
cover ordered by Boeing as Bud Weisbart, left,
talks with Dermidio Gonzalez at AR Tech in
Fontana.
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The tarps weigh 18-ounces per square yard, are five-feet wide, heat
treated for water proofing and are twice the thickness of those
ubiquitous blue tarps, Weisbart said. A&R tarps are used to cover truck
beds and loads.
A&R makes acoustic insulation and liners for the Lockheed Martin Atlas
2AR rocket space vehicle.
Weisbart bought a $50,000 laser-guided cutting and mapping machine in
November to help A&R keep up with demand for products. The machine maps
Mylar patterns and files them in a computer. It can cut fabric into any
shape the designer wants.
A&R Tarpaulins was founded by Aundra Arrington and Bud's father, Ralph
Weisbart in 1976. A&R was originally headquartered in Boyle Heights but
in 1988, Arrington bought a building in Fontana.
"We decided to fully move to Fontana in 1992. We needed to consolidate
because we were not coordinating well," Weisbart said.
Weisbart,64, bought a third of the company in 1978 after 17 years as a
social services administrator for Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
Weisbart's wife, Carmen, joined A&R in 1989. She is president of the
company.
Weisbart spent 1966 to 1968 developing anti-poverty programs in Peru.
He spent time in the Peace Corps in 1963.
Weisbart realized that the social service work he wanted to do would be
difficult to accomplish as a public servant because funds were not
available at the time. So he turned to business.
"My passion was developing programs based on needs to address issues
among youth. Now we do the same conceptual thing in designing products
and services in companies," Weisbart said.
Originally, A&R focused on tarps for trucks.
"Over the years, my father and I disagreed on what direction the company
should take," Weisbart said. "I thought we should expand our business
into the aerospace industry and he didn't."
Weisbart bought his father's share of A&R in 1990. A&R landed contracts
with Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
When Arrington retired in 1999, Weisbart bought the remaining shares.
Arrington died March 12, 2000.
Weisbart wants to keep his company smallbecause the challenge of
handling a high-revenue company would not be in his best interest.
