Barbara Henigin
Staff Writer
Milliken’s grand opening of the LaGrange manufacturing facility of Concrete Cloth was met with much excitement and interest from many of the area’s CEOs and prospective contractors.
The event officially pronounced Milliken as the only US manufacturer of this revolutionary product.
President of Milliken’s Performance Products Division E. Sim Skinner opened Thursday morning’s activities by giving a short history of the Milliken company and highlighting the advantages of using Concrete Cloth over traditional concrete. Skinner stated that Concrete Cloth is pliable, easily installed, and yet it takes less time to cure, is more sustainable and is easier to transport to remote sites than regular concrete.
“So by using Concrete Cloth, you can get all of the benefits of concrete without all of the difficulties and challenges that working with concrete has,” said Skinner.
Skinner also pointed out that Concrete Cloth can be used in multitude of applications addressing infrastructure challenges such as erosion and storm water control, ditch lining, and concrete and pipe protection, repair and rehabilitation. He then introduced one of the two developers of the product and co-founder of Concrete Canvas, Peter Brewin.
Brewin stepped up to the podium, explained how he and Will Crawfors had originally developed Concrete Cloth and then gave the details of the product’s physical structure.
While holding a square of the material, Brewin pointed out that Concrete Cloth is a three layer material. The cement mix is trapped between a flexible 3D fabric and a waterproof PVC backing. He then went into a very technical explanation of how the product actually achieves its final state but was also kind enough to give a simpler version.
“You have a mat, you roll it out, you add water and you get a very rock-hard concrete surface very, very quickly, which is much faster and you use less material than any other way,” said Brewin.
Brewin’s explanations were then followed by the official ribbon cutting, guided tours of the manufacturing facility and then a mini field trip to see how the product was actually used to solve an erosion problem on the Milliken plant’s property. During each of these facets of the program participants were encouraged to ask questions and with the exception of the tour of the inner building were also permitted to take pictures.
Here in LaGrange, this manufacturing arrangement between Milliken and Concrete Canvas gives both companies opportunities to expand and prosper while offering an added boost to the local economy.
For more information on Concrete Cloth, please visit www.concretecloth.milliken.com.
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