DALTON, Ga.—Tiarco Chemical boosted capacity at its Dalton chemical production facility in a multi-million dollar expansion that will be fully operational by the second quarter of 2018.
The chemical site increased its footprint by about 40 percent, from about 70,000 square feet to about 100,000 square feet, said Kevin Nolan, vice president and general manager at Tiarco Chemical. Construction of the new unit began in the first quarter of 2017.
The site produces a variety of component chemistry used in the manufacture of latex additives, grease and lubricant additives, water treatment additives, and contract and toll manufacturing. Within the latex industry, the site is focused heavily on antioxidants, accelerators and wax emulsions, Nolan said.
He added there were three primary drivers for the expansion—improving efficiencies of operation, adding a level of automation and control to production, and to increase capacity.
Tiarco, which is a subsidiary of Textile Rubber & Chemical Co., could see a small level of employment growth thanks to the expansion, and a significant level of manufacturing growth and capability, Nolan said.
"I would say over the course of the next five years, we definitely anticipate job growth," he said.
The Dalton chemical plant runs three key manufacturing processes for Tiarco that will be increased with the expansion. The first and largest is reactive chemistry.
"We're a true manufacturing chemical company where we design, scale-up, produce and sell molecules. In this case, the ones for the latex industries are accelerators basically for curing latex," Nolan said.
The other two manufacturing processes are production of aqueous dispersions and emulsion capabilities.
The expansion gave the company the chance to design and build equipment where those manufacturing processes are in full control for both safety and controlled repeatability, said Nolan.
While Tiarco is not adding a large amount of base chemistry in the latex market, "we are setting up the manufacturing capability to add to our current portfolio, as well as leave room for new chemistries in the future," Nolan said.
"The current expansion will improve our ability to deliver solutions to meet our waterborne customers' future needs. Latex is one of our core strengths, not only for Tiarco but the entire family of Textile Rubber & Chemical Companies. We intend to maintain a leadership position in the latex market on technology and application solutions," said Nolan.
The expansion at the Dalton facility comes before two more major developments within the next two years. Tiarco will expand its facilities at Greenville, S.C., and Ipoh, Malaysia. He said both also focus on component chemistries.
Tiarco accounts for about 15 percent of TRCC's 450 U.S.-based employees, and also operates on a global basis with TRCC partners in Canada, Malaysia, Germany, China and India.