CEDAR CITY, Utah—GAF Materials Corp. has started shipments from its new thermoplastic polyolefin and polyisocyanurate plant in Cedar City.
TPO began shipping on Aug. 1, with ISO products expected to start shipping in the first quarter of 2015.
The firm did not disclose investment details. The facility currently employs 40, but once the ISO line is installed, it estimates an additional 10-15 jobs will be created.
GAF purchased the 541,000-sq.-ft. building, which sits on a 78-acre site, in early 2013 and began the renovation process shortly thereafter. GAF said it modified the Cedar City facility so it could accommodate its equipment, but it did not expand the physical building
“We've seen the increase of TPO over the last 10-15 years as the market has really embraced the wide variety of benefits that TPO offers,” said Christopher McGroarty, GAF's senior product manager for TPO.
“GAF has experienced great growth in the west, and we see that trend continuing. We feel we can deliver quality service to this market from the Cedar City area,” he said.
Cedar City houses GAF's third TPO and third ISO production lines. It is the company's second combined TPO/ISO facility and it produces the full line of GAF TPO products—including EverGuard TPO and EverGuard Extreme TPO.
GAF said the plant will manufacture both ISO roof insulation and residential sheathing.
The firm manufactures TPO lines at its Mount Vernon, Ind., and Gainesville, Texas, facilities. It produces ISO at Gainesville and Statesboro, Ga.
“Our venture in Cedar City is an example of GAF's continued strategic investment in the commercial roofing industry,” Gerry Messina, GAF's executive director of commercial marketing, said in a statement.
“The facility will give us the ability to better service our customers throughout the country.”
The facility will include a new training center for the Center for the Advancement of Roofing Excellence to support the continued growing demand for their training classes, GAF said.
The firm said CARE has provided education to more than 125,000 industry professionals. CARE's mission is to help professional contractors and distributors build their businesses through sales and management education and to provide product and installation training to contractors, distributors, architects, property owners and related industry personnel.
McGroarty said the facility is in development with the firm putting the finishing touches on it. It will allow roofing contractors, distributors and employees to take courses focusing primarily on single ply roofing installation.
GAF's Gainesville and Statesboro facilities include CARE training centers, McGroarty said.
“We feel that education and best practices of roofing is of the upmost importance in terms of safety, proper installation and helping contractors continue to grow their business,” he said.
“CARE is a great training organization that helps people make sure they learn how to install roofing and continue to develop on their existing skill sets,” he added. “It's made a huge improvement to the overall business of GAF and provided the industry with better knowledge of best practices of roofing.”
GAF's products include a portfolio of steep-slope and commercial roofing systems and is one of the largest roofing manufacturers in North America. Its website said it's grown to nearly $3 billion in sales.