Putmans take chance, succeed with Tech Pro.(Emphasis)(about John Putman and his company Tech Pro Inc.)(Biography)

Byline: Mike McNulty

John Putman took the road less traveled to achieve success in the rubber industry.

After building up an extensive resume at three companies, Putman and his wife, Kay, launched Tech Pro Inc. in the early 1980s to develop a new line of rubber instrumentation.

It was a bold move that had failure written all over it because the highly specialized nature of the field makes it difficult to penetrate. They initially supported themselves by rebuilding beat-up rheo-meters. But Putman did have a plan to establish his company in the rubber industry and separate it from the herd.

In the mid-1980s, he made a big splash when he developed a computerized data acquisition system complete with software that firmly established the company and became part of the foundation for its growth, said Putman's nephew, Mark Bowles, who became part owner of the Cuyahoga Falls-based company in 2004 and serves as vice president of administration. Today, Tech Pro remains a small company with a long reach, because that's what Putman prefers and what the market dictates.

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