History
Jay Weinstein and John Dormer founded Metkote Laminated Products, Inc. on July 17, 1989. It started with the acquisition of the assets from Scranton Fabricators, a former division of Corell Steel Company. The equipment was housed in an 8,000 square foot section of the Scranton Fabricators Inc. plant located on East Corey Street in Scranton, PA.

The equipment itself has a longer and much more checkered past. Poloron Products, a company that manufactured high-end portable coolers, had the laminator built in 1956. These coolers were constructed with a plastic inner liner; a Styrofoam core, an aluminum outer case and a vinyl clad metal lid. As an all-plastic construction became more prevalent in the portable cooler market, that company closed and was eventually sold to Ramsey Industries, a government subcontractor.

Ramsey Industries focused primarily on stamping and fabrication for the military including bomb casings, mess kits, and sound-dampening panels. They used vinyl-clad metal as a substrate for some of their commercial stampings such as microwave oven wraps and industrial water coolers. However, developing the laminated metals market never received their full attention. Eventually, the stamping business failed and the assets were acquired by Corell Steel in 1983 and the subsidiary was named, Scranton Fabricators, Inc. The laminating line was run under the trade name of Philcoat.

Scranton Fabricators, Inc. was a stamping company which concentrated on automotive accessory parts such as jack stands, running boards and car ramps. They were owned by Corell Steel, a large steel processor headquartered in Philadelphia. Jay Weinstein was the Divisional Vice President at Corell Steel and John Dormer was the General Manager. Together, they were charged with the task of setting up the Scranton Fabricators facility and in 1986 they hired Michael Seigle as the foreman in their grinding/polishing shop.

After several years of hands on experience, Jay Weinstein and John Dormer concluded that the vinyl clad metal portion of the business was not receiving the attention that it required to be successful. They negotiated the acquisition of the equipment and hired Michael Seigle to organize and run the plant operations. In September of 1989, the equipment was totally refurbished and moved to the current address.

We have structured the company to be lean, yet efficient. Despite the overall shrinkage of the vinyl-clad market, the company has continued to grow and prosper. We have identified niche markets within the various industries that use vinyl clad and have developed strong relationships with the leading companies in these markets. We feel we succeed where others have failed, by focusing on the lamination of vinyl to metal substrates as our primary and only business.

MISSION, VISION, CORE VALUES
Mission Statement

• To be a leader in the vinyl to metal laminate industry by providing total customer satisfaction through consistently supplying our customers with products and services that are manufactured to their specifications and that meet or exceed their expectation with respect to quality, delivery and price. We value long term business relationships and strive to satisfy our customers' needs today and in the future.

Vision Statement

• To become an industry leader by continuously improving the manufacturing process, containing or reducing production costs and assuring a dependable, fail-safe quality system.

Core Values

• Total commitment to quality and service
• Customer satisfaction
• Develop long-term partnerships with suppliers and customers
• Provide competitive compensation
• Promote employee involvement
• Invest in our employees future through training and development
• Provide a safe work environment
• Keep operations lean and efficient

Niches
Metkote is a custom manufacturer of vinyl to metal laminates and offers the following services:

• Laminate a wide selection of vinyl patterns, thicknesses and colors to various substrates including cold rolled, stainless, galvanized and aluminum sheets up to 52" x 156"
• Apply secondary poly or paper to the vinyl affording extra protection against scratching and marring during the fabrication process.
• Ship direct to customer location or customer jobsites
• Sheared to size blanks and fabricated vinyl clad parts
• Managed economic lot inventory programs maintained at our facility
• Maintain a policy of NO MINIMUM QUANTITIES. We will process single sheet orders AT A REASONABLE PRICE !
• Maintain a 4 week or less leadtime.

Metkote is different!
Some of the other differences that set us apart are:

• Most of the larger laminators have coil to coil capability and pursue the high volume automotive and appliance markets. We will make the single sheet orders at a reasonable price.
• We will lock in prices for a given time period to eliminate raw material cost fluctuations. This is particularly useful for companies that have published catalog pricing.
• We are only running one shift so we can easily handle seasonal schedule spikes.
• We have the willingness to invest in plant and equipment on special projects.
• We will set up stocking programs for both finished and semi-finished goods so that lead-times can be reduced.

FACILITIES AND CAPABILITIES

BUILDING
Our Northeastern Pennsylvania facility is conveniently located to Interstate 81, Interstate 80 and the PA Turnpike. We are located approximately 5 miles from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. Our facility includes:

21,000 square feet manufacturing and warehousing space; additional 5000 square foot warehousing in a separate facility on-site situated on two and one-half acres of land

Block and steel construction with minimum ceiling height of 26 foot

15,000 amp electric service at 440 supply

Two redundant 40 hp compressors maintaining 150 psi of compressed air

Multi-line/extension phone system

Furnished and modern offices

In-house computer system - Y2K compliant

EQUIPMENT LIST
LAMINATING

1 - Custom Built Sheet Laminating Line: 52" x 156" sheet capacity
1 - Nip Press Poly/Paper Protection Applicator Line

SHEARING

1 - Cincinnati: 10 Ga x 12' with 36" Power Back gage
1 - Amada: 12 Ga x 52" with manual front gage

PUNCH PRESS

1 - L & J: OBI Punch Press, 50 ton, 3" Stroke, 18" x 30" bed

MISCELLANEOUS

1 - Forklift 8,000 # Capacity - 8' Long Forks
1 - Electric Narrow Isle Pallet Truck 3,000 # Capacity

Value added services available include complete precision sheet metal fabrication.