With today, October 4th, being Manufacturing Day, we thought it was appropriate for us at Emecole Metro to reflect on the role that in-house manufacturing and production has had at our company over the last 33 years.
Before the manufacturing process can take place, the first component that is absolutely critical is an idea. Dating back to the 1980s, Louis Cole, an accomplished chemist with an entrepreneurial spirit, recognized how unproductive the basement wall crack repair process was. Back then the means to repair cracks was to either utilize high pressure crack injection or the installation of an interior drainage system — both of which required excessive time and labor.
Motivated to find a more cost-effective and time-efficient process, Cole fixated on the potential of two-component epoxies and polyurethanes, packaged in dual cartridge tube sets that could simply be dispensed via a specially engineered dual cartridge dispensing gun that was similar to a caulking gun. After testing the idea and realizing he was onto something, Cole used his chemistry expertise to develop his own line of specially formulated epoxies and polyurethanes that would work in conjunction with his revolutionary dispensing gun, today known as the Emecole Metro Jake 300 Dispensing Gun.
The low pressure crack injection process was born. With his line of epoxies, polyurethanes and the “Jake” gun, Cole launched a new company, originally Emecole, Inc., to provide the means to manufacture and distribute his line of products and materials. Initially implemented by residential contractors within the Chicagoland area, the low pressure crack injection method slowly became recognized throughout the Midwest and eventually the national level.
While Cole had accomplished his initial goal, feedback he repeatedly received from his clientele of contractors from throughout the United States and Canada made him realize there was still room for additional growth. As crucial as crack repair is, he was well aware that the foundation is subject to structural problems and a variety of seepage issues that his customers repeatedly encountered while on the job. Motivated to better serve his customers, Cole’s new ambition was to add new products that his customers could use to address these various structural and water seepage problems while also servicing cracks.
As the focus of our company shifted to concrete and wet basement repairs, so came the need for additional staff members. Today, the Emecole Metro production team consists of a close-knit group of members, many of whom have traces to the company dating back to the mid 1990s. With a vast product line that involves the filling and packaging of chemicals to the production of several crawl space liners, our team works diligently to ensure that all products leaving our facility meet the expectations of our customers.
Since being acquired by Metropolitan Industries in 2016, our in-house capabilities have grown, starting with the move to our brand new facility in 2018. Since then, our production staff has increased to further keep up with new products, in addition to creating additional products that are currently in development.
The in-house manufacturing spirit celebrated by Emecole Metro mirrors that of Metropolitan Industries. Specializing in the custom engineering and fabrication of packaged pump systems while integrating them with their own custom manufactured controls, Metropolitan provides their project partners and end users with the most complete and versatile solutions in water movement and management.
We have always taken pride in providing our customers with top-tier solutions that solve their concrete and basement waterproofing problems. That effort is reliant on Emecole Metro’s dedicated in-house production team which makes that all possible.
