Briana Pace | Southern Indiana Business Report
In April, Jasper Rubber Products Inc. closed. Hundreds of people were laid off. Its parent company filed for bankruptcy in September 2025.
“There were about 400 jobs lost overnight,” Dubois Strong executive director Colten Pipenger said.
Three months later, the business was purchased by a new parent company and is preparing to reopen.
Press-Seal Corporation acquired Jasper Rubber Products Inc. on July 2 and intends to restart operations this summer, as soon as possible. As production resumes, Press-Seal Corporation hopes to hire previous employees at Jasper Rubber.
“This is a new start,” President of Press-Seal Corporation Daniel Skinner said in a press release. “The people who built this company’s reputation are exactly the people we want building its future.”
As Jasper Rubber Products Inc. starts operations again, they intend to mend customer relationships broken due to bankruptcy. They want to be a reliable business once again.
Jasper Rubber was founded in 1949. Since, they have manufactured a plethora of rubber products, some of which include; rubber gaskets, molded rubber, thermoplastic and elastomer components; such as vibration control, structural, sealing and isolation parts. Their products have been used in passenger cars, light trucks, powersports equipment and small engines for Honda, Ford, Chrysler and more.
Its products are sold across the United States, plus in Canda, Mexico and other markets.
“They’ve had a good reputation and a long reputation of doing good business here in Jasper,” Pipenger said. “It’s been good to have that kind of manufacturing capacity and manufacturing excellence back here in Dubois County.”
Press-Seal Corporation is a Fort Wayne-based, family-owned company that specializes in manufacturing rubber sealing products to serve the waterworks and industrial markets. They also design and produce rubber components used in infrastructure and industrial applications.
“We’re a family business and we’re going to return Jasper Rubber to operating as it did when it was a family business,” Press-Seal Corporation chief executive officer and chairman Pete Skinner said in a press release. “I started working in rubber factories when I was 15 years old. I understand this industry from the floor up. Jasper is going back to local, hands-on ownership, and we couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”