AKRON, OHIO — John J. McDonough, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Newell Rubbermaid Inc., will deliver the Oct. 15 awards-banquet address at Plastics News' Executive Forum 2000 near Orlando, Fla.
McDonough, 63, is overseeing the integration of Rubbermaid Inc. with Newell Co., following Newell's purchase of a 60 percent stake in the Wooster, Ohio, housewares giant for nearly $6 billion. The merger, announced late last October and completed March 24, created the world's largest maker of durable consumer products.
The two firms together employ some 32,000 and operate more than 100 manufacturing plants worldwide. Newell Rubbermaid's sales for 1998 totaled nearly $6.18 billion.
Rubbermaid alone, based on 1998 resin-consumption estimates from TownsendTarnell Inc., ranks as North America's largest rotational molder, third-largest injection molder and among the top 15 in blow molding.
McDonough, a Chicago native and University of Notre Dame graduate, joined Newell in 1981 as senior vice president-finance. He left the firm in 1983 to become CEO of medical/dental products maker Dentsply International Inc., a post he held for 12 years. He rejoined Newell in his current position in January 1998, and is spearheading the so-called ``Newellization'' of Rubbermaid. That is the profit-improvement and productivity-enhancement process that the Freeport, Ill.-based company applies to its acquisitions — and there have been plenty.
Newell has purchased nearly 100 product lines since the late 1960s, and in this decade alone has made more than 20 major acquisitions that have added more than $5 billion in sales to Newell's ledger. In addition to Rubbermaid and its Little Tikes subsidiary, Newell now owns such well-known brand names as Rolodex and Eldon desktop and computer accessories, Anchor Hocking glassware, Calphalon cookware, Goody and Ace hair accessories, and Berol and Eberhard Faber markers and writing instruments.
Yet, even while facing the challenges of digesting these operations, Newell has averaged a 21 percent return on beginning equity during the past 10 years.
McDonough will speak at the Executive Forum 2000's Friday evening banquet, to be held at Disney's Epcot Center. Plastics News also will present its annual Processor of the Year award that evening.
In related forum news, Gary A. Quick, a Ford Motor Co. official on loan to the nonprofit Automotive Industry Action Group, has agreed to round out the five-person panel on electronic commerce scheduled for Oct. 14 at PN's Executive Forum.
The 31-year Ford veteran relinquished his post as the automaker's executive director of vehicle procurement operations to work full time for AIAG in January. In his new post, he directs the development of North American efficiency-improvement initiatives. Quick will provide an update on the AIAG initiative known as the Automotive Network eXchange, or ANX, a global automotive intranet designed to streamline parts purchasing.
The Oct. 13-16 conference, which is devoted to assessing future prospects for various key resins and end markets, will be held at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Lake Buena Vista.
To register or to obtain more details on the full program, prices, venue, or sponsorship opportunities, visit the Forum 2000 section at Plastics News On the Web (www.plasticsnews.com) or contact Nancy Parks in Akron at tel. (330) 865-6134 or e-mail [email protected].