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Prior to 1987 it was a farmer’s field. Then DTR arrived.

Larry Core, retired Bluffton village administrator, remembers it this way: “It was biggest thing that will ever happen in my life.”

“It” was the Village of Bluffton’s success in attracting what was DTR, and is today SumiRiko Ohio, manufacturer of vehicle engine mounts, which employees approximately 770 associates working three shifts.

The seeds of its Bluffton arrival started in secret in 1987. At its 1988 formal opening, its name was Duramax Tokai Rubber, also known as DTR Industries.  In 2016, DTR Industries changed its name to SumiRiko Ohio.

This week, celebrating its 30th year in Bluffton, three now-retired DTR executives returned from Japan to Bluffton for an appreciative memory-filled visit.

The three, Yuji Kobayashi, DTR’s first president; Tsutomo Kuchiba, DTR’s second president; and Masaki Ishikawa, DTR’s first vice-president, met with many original DTR associates and several village officials, who played significant roles in attractive the company to Bluffton.

The event was a luncheon in the Bluffton town hall.

Three of those Bluffton officials, who playing roles in bring DTR to Bluffton attended. They are Larry Core, Fred Rodabaugh and Roger Edwards.

Recalling the initial inquiry to Bluffton from DTR, Core said,  “It occurred in June of 1987, when I first met T. Hikida of Tokai Rubber Industries. The purpose of his visit was to look for a suitable location for a production base in the United States.”

Core said that following that initial meeting there were many follow-up meetings with Bill Bassitt of Allen County and Dave Amstutz, industrial developer.

DTR eventually purchase farmland owned by Jean and Diane Muller north of the Buckeye quarry. DTR’s first Bluffton location was at 415-17 N. Main Street, today home of Polished and 415 Boutique.