What does an industrial specialties company do when it wants to diversify into the wipes market? It sets up shop in the heart of Wisconsin wipes country. At least that was the strategy for Carroll Company. The Garland, TX-based company (with additional locations in Santa Fe Springs, CA, and Havre de Grace, MD) has opened a subsidiary, Carroll Converting, in Saukville, WI, with an 18,900-square-foot facility that is primarily a training and research and development center for wipes.

“What we have done is procured high end converting equipment and modified and standardized it,” says Mike Kryshak president of Carroll Converting. “The concept is when Carroll employees are fully trained on this equipment, they can go back to their location with the exact type of equipment and start production.”

Essentially, Carroll Company and Carroll Converting work together to bring existing and new products into wipe formats, including the development of (or modifications to) the formulation, the complete specifications, as well as stability, bio-burden and efficacy testing on finished products. Carroll Company and Carroll Converting also have the ability to run smaller trial quantities for wipe products to ensure the product coming into the market is viable.

Most of the formulations will likely target the industrial specialties market, where Carroll Company has significant expertise with several formulating chemists on staff. “Carroll does a fantastic job in the industrial market and I feel there are tremendous opportunities in the industrial market for wipes,” Kryshak says. Carroll already has the ability to make wipes in its Garland, TX, facility, including folded and larger rolls, which are preferred in industrial cleaning applications.

Carroll Company was founded in 1921 by M.W. Carroll in Waco, TX, but was soon relocated to Dallas. The original business manufactured heavy-duty hand soaps for mechanics to clean oil and grime off their hands. As his business began to grow, M.W. Carroll started manufacturing other cleaning products and added mops, brooms and brushes to his company’s product portfolio.

Throughout the years, his children and grandchildren continued to expand the business, adding window cleaners; EPA-registered products such as insecticides, herbicides and disinfectants; FDA-approved products such as anti-microbial soaps and hand sanitizers; as well as packaging and labeling capabilities to the operation. In the 1980s, Kyle Ogden joined the company and began working to establish Carroll as a national business focused on private brand programs. In support of this strategy, Carroll built a substantial private branding program.

Its expansion into wipes is its latest step in becoming a full service supplier to the industrial cleaner market. “With Carroll’s extensive sales and marketing team, diverse manufacturing capabilities in powders, liquids and aerosols, the only thing Carroll was missing from the industrial market was wipes,” Kryshak says.

To aid its expansion into wipes, Carroll entered a joint venture (Carroll Converting) with  Kryshak, who has had a long career in the wipes business, working with some of the market’s leading players. It only made sense to start Carroll Converting in Wisconsin where there is a tremendous amount of expertise in all aspects of wipe development and manufacturing.

According to Kryshak, its small size gives Carroll Converting an edge in the business. “By keeping small and limiting the production in this facility we are able to concentrate on the numerous small details that give our customers an edge over their competitors in the wipe business. Once the product is through testing and ready for entry into the market, Carroll Company is all set to take over with its high-speed blending, filling and converting capabilities. For national launches, the multiple locations and redundancy in manufacturing guarantees our customers uninterrupted supply and savings on transportation.”   

700 N. Progress Drive
P.O. Box 80081
Saukville, WI 53080

262-235-4224
mike@carrollconverting

www.carrollconverting.com;
www.carrollco.com