Diversify, it has – to the point that the name “Tire Cord USA” doesn’t fully capture the breadth of the company’s activities. Since the early days, the business has been involved in recycling “substandard” nylon and polyester high-tenacity yarn, cabled cord, belt fabric and tire cord fabric. It later branched out into warehousing and, more recently, added warping services to its repertoire. This year, it is eyeing adding its own trucking line to add distribution services to its warehousing unit.

 

All three divisions – Recycling, Warehousing and Warping – are holding their own, Chowdhury said. The warehousing business has quadrupled in the last three years, and he is expecting growth in the young warping business this year, he added.

 

Beyond diversification, some intangibles have likely figured into the company’s longevity, according to industry veteran David Rouse of Rouse Enterprises, who has helped Tire Cord USA for several years on a part-time basis to help identify business opportunities.

 

“Probably one of the major reasons they were successful through the lean times is that they stuck with their suppliers and customers even during rough periods, where so many others just disappeared,” Rouse said. “They only wanted the cream of the crop, but Nazrul was there during the hard times just like they were.”

 

Then, there were the company’s values. From the beginning, Chowdhury’s business mantra has been to build a loyal customer base through two things: honesty and prompt pickup/payment, he said.  

 

“If I gave someone my word, no matter what happened in the market, I never went back on that,” Chowdhury said. “I think that means something. And when they have product for you, pick it up on time because to them it’s waste and they’re ready to get rid of it. Then, when invoices come in, pay them before they’re due. That means something.

 

“That helped me build relationships and trust,” he added. “And much of my business has come from word of mouth through such customer relationships.”

 

A fax machine and a dream

 

To fully understand how Tire Cord USA became one of the largest distributors of “substandard” tire cord fabric and related products in the world, let’s take a step back more than 30 years, when a young, eager and motivated teenager entered these shores with only a student visa – and a dream.

 

A native of Bangladesh, Chowdhury came to the U.S. at age 17, even though he could not speak English. He enrolled in Howard College in Big Spring, Texas in 1981 and learned the language over the next two-and-a-half years through “intense” courses, he said. Having to pay tuition, room and board and expenses, he worked in fast food, waited tables and took a job in the stock room at retail chain JC Penney. After a year he took a sales job with Bealls Department Store. He worked his way through the ranks and, a few years later, was transferred to Dallas, Texas, to manage a new store.

 

While in Dallas, he and four of his friends began kicking around the idea to open an international trading company, although they had no product to move and no customers. And in 1989, they opened BMS International, Inc. in a small office. But with no customers after a year, two partners went back to Bangladesh and two decided to get out. So Chowdhury closed the office and bought a desk and a fax machine for a corner of his bedroom.

 

He kept his job at Bealls but made time to learn everything he could about international business by attending trade shows, reading books and articles and talking with U.S. Trade Assistance representatives. Then, a fellow Bangladeshi asked him a question that would change his life: Do you know anything about tire cord fabric?

 

He didn’t – but he began to explore the product and learned that some countries had a need for second-hand tire cord, and not for tire production. The treated material is water resistant and is perfect for such applications as fishing nets, seaweed netting, ropes, clotheslines and even kite strings. He soon began calling tire manufacturers in the U.S. In 1991, he picked up his first container of below-par tire cord fiber from one of the converters, took advance against his credit cards, paid cash and shipped it to Bangladesh. The customer liked the product and, from there, business began to grow, he said.

 

“Even with no customers, those first two years taught me a lot of things – how international business works, what it takes to export and to import and who to call when you’re ready to move product,” he said. “I knew to call a broker and to call the shipping lines to negotiate a shipping rate.”

 

Chowdhury maintained the one customer for about three years, until that customer cancelled the business in favor of cheaper products from other countries.

 

“That’s when I had to find new customers,” he said. “By this time, though, customers from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan knew I was exporting this product, so they started contacting me, and that’s how business started growing. I would soon begin exporting to those countries, along with Mexico, Spain and some to China.”

 

More growth comes after move

 

By 1995, the business was moving two or three containers per month, so he decided to quit his job at Bealls and go at this venture full time. Shortly thereafter, one of his suppliers in S.C. asked if he had any warehousing and distribution in the Carolinas. When he answered no, she told him she could get him more business if he moved to the Carolinas. So he and his wife with two boys moved to Cramerton, N.C. in 1996 and leased a warehouse in Charlotte for suppliers to store fabric.

 

Indeed, business began to take off, growing so fast that he leased 17,000 square feet in a warehouse in Kings Mountain, N.C., which was filled up within its first six months. So he leased another 17,000 square feet in the same building and, after about three years, added another 60,000 square feet at another warehouse in the town.

 

About 10 years later, he was maxed out, using almost 150,000 square feet of warehouse space in Kings Mountain. He moved to his current location in Cherryville, N.C., in 2008. Today, the company operates under 120,000 square feet at its primary location, used mainly for recycling and warping, as well as a 100,000 warehouse down the street and a 193,000 warehouse in nearby Shelby, N.C., for a total of more than 400,000 square feet.

 

Nearly four years ago, Tire Cord USA began its first foray in manufacturing when it bought a warping (beaming) business from a supplier. The manager who was running that operation joined Tire Cord and continues to manage the area to this day. The division supplies to about five customers.

 

“That business is doing well because our great relationship with our customers and suppliers and not too many people in this country are doing beaming/ warping anymore,” Chowdhury said. “By providing quality service and quality beaming, that’s how that business is growing.”

 

The recycling business continues to perform well, too, he said. Tire Cord USA buys the waste, separates and repackages it and ships it to other countries.

 

“If we or someone like us didn’t take it, it would end up in the landfill, so this is a sustainable business,” he said.

 

In 2007, Tire Cord USA was named to the Inc. 5,000 list of fastest-growing privately owned companies in the U.S.

 

Tire Cord USA employs about 40 people, including 16 in the Recycling Division and 12 each in the Warping and Warehousing Division. Four managers oversee the units: Hans Long (Operations manager), Walter Ferris (Warping Division), Dawn Moss (Warehousing); and Hector Felix (Recycling Division).

 

This year, Chowdhury hopes to add a trucking line in order to have better control in the warehousing/distribution area, he said.

 

With business strong and prospects bright, Chowdhury said he sees no reason to expect a downturn in his business any time soon.

 

“As long as we are driving cars in this country and the population is increasing, people are going to buy more and more tires,” he said. “I don’t see tire cord manufacturers going away. At the same time, where we used to have a dozen or so mills and now have about half that, those that are left are running almost at full capacity. They’re doing very well, even when you include imported fabric. So I haven’t seen a big difference in volume, even with fewer mills.”