A Trump administration small business official will be in Alabama on Tuesday to visit a homegrown Shelby County manufacturer coming off the largest expansion in its history.
U.S. Small Business Administration Deputy Administrator Bill Briggs is set to tour Specification Rubber Products in Alabaster, where the company’s latest growth project has added a new 120,000-square-foot warehouse less than half a mile from its manufacturing headquarters.
Specification Rubber Products, known as Spec Rubber, is the nation’s largest domestic industrial rubber gasket manufacturer. Founded in 1968, the company manufactures American-made molded rubber products and specialty waterworks gaskets used in ductile iron pipe, valves and hydrants.
The company’s products support the waterworks industry and help serve infrastructure systems that deliver clean, safe water.
Spec Rubber’s new warehouse, located on more than 16 acres in nearby Pelham, will house finished goods inventory, raw materials, shipping and receiving operations and administrative offices. The project marks the seventh expansion in the company’s history and its largest in 58 years.
“The new facility represents our future and gives us the room we require to grow,” Spec Rubber President Steven A. Smith previously said.
The visit gives national attention to one of Alabama’s small business manufacturing success stories. Spec Rubber was also recognized as the 2024 Small Alabama Manufacturer of the Year by the Business Council of Alabama and the Alabama Technology Network.
Briggs was sworn in as SBA deputy administrator in 2025 after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate. During the first Trump administration, he served in the SBA’s Office of Capital Access, where he helped oversee the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
He is expected to be joined Tuesday by SBA Deputy Regional Administrator Jon Rich.
Alabama’s small businesses continue to make up a major share of the state’s economy. According to the SBA’s 2025 Alabama Small Business Profile, Alabama is home to 465,610 small businesses, representing 99.4% of all businesses in the state. Those businesses employ 816,850 people, accounting for 46% of Alabama’s workforce.
For Alabama, the stop highlights the continued strength of domestic manufacturing, the importance of American-made supply chains and the role small businesses play in job creation and infrastructure.
