Producing Panels

SEBRING - Some people might consider Sebring's location to be out of the way, but its proximity to four cities in Florida - plus a good rail system - were the key factors in a North Carolina manufacturing company's decision to choose Highlands County for its third plant.

"I think the main thing is this is a good area for rail," said Jon Albert, plant manager for Funder America Inc.'s new Sebring facility. "We need rail access for our raw boards; all of our raw boards come in rail.

"So we are completely fed by rail, and we send everything out by truck," Albert said.

"With the location being right here - you have Miami, Orlando, Tampa, West Palm - I mean that's really good," he added. "We're right in the center basically of everything. The rail and the ability to ship like that really saves on shipping charges."

Dixie Plywood is the distributor for Funder and it has facilities in the afore mentioned cities.

Funder makes melamine panels in a 55,000 square-foot building near Sebring Regional Airport that are used in the construction of shelves, cabinets and desks.

Albert explained that the process begins with a piece of particle board and a piece of paper that has a melamine resin, which is kind of like plastic. The melamine and a urea resin are mixed into the paper.

"This causes a bond to occur when it goes through a heat and pressure process," he said. "You have your glueable kinds of board... What they do is they just simply take a piece of paper, and they spread some glue on it and they push the paper on the wood. Here, the heat causes it to actually become part of the wood, so it is thermally fused so it is not going to peel up."

The melamine lamination press handles a little more than 300 boards an hour, Albert said.

Funder ships a couple thousand boards a day from Sebring. Albert said it varies, noting that 12 truckloads were shipped a little more than a week ago.

The process results in a surface tougher and more durable than UV-cured acrylic, top-coated paper, polyester or wood veneers, according to the company's Web site.

At the company's headquarters near Winston-Salem, N.C., there is a fabrication shop where desks, tables and other items are made. Funder also has a plant in Arkansas.

In Sebring, Funder is currently running one shift from 6:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. four days a week. The plant runs occasionally on Friday, Albert said. It is an appealing schedule for employees.

"Everybody loves it," said Albert. "I love it."

The fully automated operation currently has seven employees, but Albert said he will be hiring at least eight more when a second shift gets started later this year.

The panels come in a variety of colors including honey apple, wild apple, cognac, autumn, candlelight and driftwood.

"We probably have laminated 30 different colors so far," Albert said. "We haven't been running that long. As we get better and the line is up longer we will go to many more."

The local plant became fully operational Aug. 1.