Vanrex is a chemical manufacturing plant that focuses on producing and marketing paint for homes businesses, and institutions. Along with that, they supply coatings for manufactured products, automotive parts, paint cans, aerosol cans, brushes, rollers, and other paint applicators. Vanrex is situated on an eighty acre property in Hayestown Oklahoma. Since its beginnings in 1906, Vanrex has gone from being a manufacturing facility in the middle of nowhere, to now being surrounded by many residents and businesses. They currently have highly priced residential homes as well as Hayestown Elementary School within blocks from the plant.The city has grown in population and currently has 43,256 residents, of which 253 are employees of the company.
Vanrex’s philosophies have changed over the years as they have faced challenges with increasing population around their plant facility. They have attempted to adapt to the changing conditions of Haystown as well as the regulations in the industry. Balancing between profits, efficiency, credibility in the city, and maintaining regulatory standards has been a challenging task for the company. Vanrex has been able to get to a profitable point in production since they first opened in 1906. They have also adjusted to regulatory demands and are currently in compliance with the standards of the industry.
While maintaining regulatory standards appears to be an area that Vanrex can control, they continue to face public scrutiny from the citizens of Hayestown. They are unable to satisfy the needs of the community and have faced bad press.
John Rubin, General Manager of Operations needs to handle the situation with the citizens and press of Hayestown in a tactical yet manageable way. The suggestions that I have for him are to hold a town hall meeting at the Hayestown Elementary School which will outline the plans he proposes to make at the plant. He must outline proposed changes that will help deflect negative publicity that Vanrex is currently facing. The key things that Rubin needs to address are his awareness of the communities concerns and the relevance they will play in the decisions that move the company forward. He must be sympathetic yet diplomatic when he presents these changes. He needs to address the statement that was done in the past about thinking that if the employees inside the plant were safe then he figured those outside of the facility would be as well. This comment makes the community feel as though he is disregarding their concerns and safety. Rubin needs to clearly address what his initiatives will bring to the community and how the company lives by the “good neighbor” rule. He can exemplify this by adding the fact that most of his employees are neighbors of the community and that Vanrex and the community will work together to make the city a better place.

Another form of medium that Vanrex can use is the newspaper. They have been a source for good and bad publicity and he can leverage his proposed changes thru various newspapers.