FOCUS ON: Royal Adhesives and Sealants Plans $4.3 Million Expansion

Royal Adhesives and Sealants LLC has announced plans to invest $4.3 million in its South Bend, IN, operations by adding manufacturing and warehouse space. The project includes the purchase of approximately $3.2 million in equipment, as well as the creation of 28 new jobs for which the company will receive a local tax break and state grants.

“We talked to the City of South Bend and the State of Indiana to find out what kind of benefits we might be able to get for making this expansion, hiring more people, etc.,” said Royal Adhesives and  Sealants CEO Ted Clark. “South Bend has approved a tax abatement for three years, which was an important commitment we wanted to get from the city in support of our expansion. We’ve also received employee training grants from the state that we’ll use to train both existing and new operators in things like problem-solving, 5S* and statistical process control.  And we may also develop some specific curriculums related to the processes we’re bringing into South Bend.”

Clark explained the construction of a new 8,300-square-foot production plant and a 22,500-square-foot warehouse as part of Royal’s core strategy to consolidate the six acquisitions it has made in the last five years in its biggest plant in South Bend.

“We bought a business in Bellville, NJ, called Hardman Adhesives that has a facility that is larger than it really needs to be to do the production it is currently doing,” he said. “So we’re moving epoxy and urethane adhesives production from a 30,000-square-foot area to an 8,300-square-foot area, and we’ll be able to produce the same amount of material - and probably even more - by installing a much more efficient manufacturing flow.

“It’s expected to take nine months to get the buildings built, to get the equipment in, and to get the customer qualification work done,” Clark added. “We’ll continue to produce in Bellville until we’re up and running in South Bend.”

Equipment purchases for the new product plant include mixers, pilot mixers, raw-material storage tanks and testing equipment.

* 5S is a philosophy and a way of organizing and managing the workspace and work flow with the intent to improve efficiency by eliminating waste, improving flow, and reducing process unevenness. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5S_(methodology).

About Royal Adhesives and Sealants

Royal Adhesives and Sealants is a manufacturer and marketer of high-performance adhesives, sealants, encapsulants, potting compounds, and mirror mastics. These products are used in a variety of markets, including aerospace and defense; assembly; automotive and recreational vehicle; electrical/electronic; filter; marine; general industrial; flexible packaging; and paper converting. The company, which employs 116 people at its South Bend, IN, operations, produces the brand names Hardman^®, Silaprene^®, Hydra Fast-EN^®, and Gunther^® Mirror Mastics.

For more information about the company, visit www.royaladhesives.com.

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