“This is the largest investment Q.E.P. has made in itself in the last 15 years,” said Len Gould, president and CEO, during the grand opening of the new Roberts Consolidated adhesives manufacturing facility located in Dalton, Georgia. The facility, acquired by the firm in 2005, was originally the site of Capitol USA’s adhesives division. This strategic acquisition positioned Q.E.P. manufacturing in a more central location for the East coast.

The new Roberts adhesives manufacturing facility has the capacity to produce 18,000 gallons of adhesives per shift which equates to 36,000 gallons per day, according to Herbert Maertl, COO, Q.E.P. However, it has the capacity to double its output. 

The facility will offer more employment opportunities for the Dalton area “as our second shift comes up to full capacity,” said Leslie Del Pozo, VP marketing communications, Q.E.P. 

It is equipped with 20 brand new holding tanks and four repurposed tanks for a total of 24 tanks that sit alongside 30 mixers that support a state-of-the-art automatic processing system to produce all of Roberts’ adhesives in one-gallon and four-gallon pails as well as cartridge containers. This includes the first-of-its-kind 6399 Firm Set Transitional Pressure Sensitive Adhesive, designed for resilient floorcoverings, with a working time of 12 hours made possible by a proprietary formula. 

According to Maertl, the new facility is designed to produce less waste and support a higher level of quality control and allows Q.E.P. to do more with polymer formulations increasing their capabilities for innovation.

In addition to manufacturing adhesives, the facility produces underlayments, including its Airguard Premium Underlayment that features Microban technology, and spacers for tile installation. It also packages the QEP brand sponges and readies them for distribution. 

Q.E.P. distributes primarily out of its Coronet Drive facility in Dalton, Georgia; however, the new adhesives manufacturing facility will ship direct if the order consists of only items manufactured in house. 

Currently, Roberts is manufacturing adhesives in three locations: Tolleson, Arizona; Dalton, Georgia; and Ontario, Canada.

“I’m very proud of our team,” said Gould. “Most of our competition is owned by private equity or foreign nationals, we are the alternative. Roberts truly is ‘The American Adhesive Company.’”