I went to work for Nichols Industries in Pasadena, Texas September 1950. I was attending the University of Houston, majoring in Engineering. The University had an employment listing for a part-time job at Nichols Industries. I collected the necessary information and went to Pasadena, Texas for an interview. Lewis Nichols, office manager and partner, was the interviewer.

After speaking with Lewis in detail, which included handling the repair department for returned toy guns, he offered a job at 75 cents an hour. I told him I would need $1 an hour to justify the drive from Houston to Pasadena. Lewis said, "I will do it and you are hired."

After working for about a month I was transferred to Engineering/Production under the direction of Talley Nichols, President. There I was put in charge of finding a source of zinc die cast metal. All prime zinc was frozen for the military and essentially the war effort. Therefore it was not readily available for the toy industry. After studying the problem for several days it was decided the only source was scrap zinc die cast. Scrap consists of carburetors, fuel pumps, pipe thread protectors and some automotive grills. A network of junk dealers was set up to separate these items from other scrap.

At the plant a melting and pouring into ingots system was set up. In a very short time we were making cap pistols. We found carburetors were not a good source of zinc. They had plugs in them made of lead which caused the casting to crack and electroplating very difficult. Carburetors were discontinued and automotive grills and thread protectors were found to be the best sources. We were very pleased when zinc die cast was released by the government's priority list.

All of the metal finishing was out-sourced since Nichols did not have electroplating facilities at that time. Rejects and costs were excessive. I was given the task to design and implement an electroplating system for copper, nickel and chrome on zinc die cast. This was a major step for Nichols but proved to be a profitable one.

In 1954 it was decided Nichols had to expand in order to meet production requirements. After extensive research it was decided that Nichols would relocate to Jacksonville, Texas. A new plant was built. I was named Vice President in charge of Manufacturing and a Board member. The manufacturing process consisted of die casting, trimming, vacuum metalizing, tumbling, electroplating, plastic injection molding, painting, assembly and packaging.

In 1956 Nichols Industries had 650 employees and was producing millions of cap pistols. In 1965 Nichols Industries, Inc. was sold to Kusan and became Nichols Kusan, Inc. I continued with Nichols Kusan as Vice President of Manufacturing and later became President.

I resigned from Nichols Kusan, Inc. to expand Adams Self Storage and Adams Farms in 1983. I also established Adams Engineers & Equipment and Storage Center in Tyler with my son Cliff.
— "Mini" Autobiography by Roland Adams, Jan. 24, 2005

Roland Adams sitting at his desk in the original Pasadena, Texas plant.