GMC – Adhesives Across Industries

Hot melt applicator (Courtesy of Glue Machinery Corporation)
Hot melt applicator (Courtesy of Glue Machinery Corporation)

Today’s article is a guest post by Glue Machinery Corporation

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Adhesives Across Industries

When is the last time you thought about glue? If you’re like most people, the answer is “not lately.” Adhesives are a part of our everyday lives, but likely one we don’t often think about. Though from the cars we drive to the sports we play to the glass of wine we relax with at the end of the day, adhesives play a huge role in the world around us. Let’s take a closer look at how adhesives impact our lives via three very different industries: automotive, sports and wine.

The Automotive Industry: Regardless of whether you’re driving an industrial van to a job or are cruising with the convertible top down on a weekend trip, one thing remains the same — adhesives play an integral part in your vehicle’s construction and safety. From the body of the car to the carpet that covers the interior floorboards to the sensors that let you know your tire pressure is low, adhesives can be found throughout an automobile.

Interested in providing a comfortable, high-quality experience for the driver and his passengers, auto manufacturers choose adhesives that can be applied via their automated systems, providing a dependable bond each and every time. An integral part of the assembly line, industrial-strength adhesives hold vehicle components firmly in place, and enhance the car’s overall durability while keeping costs as low as possible.

The Sports Industry: Chances are, the last time you were watching a professional football or baseball game being played, you didn’t immediately think of adhesives — but the reality is that adhesives play a huge role in the sports industry. Take, for example, the artificial turf fields commonly used in stadiums and sports complexes across the United States. How do you think they keep the fields in place, without wrinkles or sagging? By using the right adhesives and installation systems to ensure that the synthetic turf bonds to the substrate material below.

However, to keep your artificial turf field looking great and performing well, you can’t just use any old adhesive to keep it in place — you need something that will continue to look good and perform well, year after year, regardless of how much it’s used or what types of weather it endures. Facilities managers must consider a variety of factors — including the temperature extremes at the location — before making a decision on which adhesive system to use. Choosing the right adhesive allows sports teams to make the most of their investment in synthetic turf.

The Wine Industry: The next time you open a bottle of vino, consider the role that adhesives played in the process of getting that delicious Merlot from the winery to your table. From the cases the wine was boxed in, to the label that highlights the wine’s name and variety, to the pallets of wine cases transported across the nation, adhesives are a big part of the wine labeling-and-packaging process.

In micro and small wineries, these processes may be done by hand, where boxes are manually glued and erected and labels are affixed with a hand-held glue gun. However, in mid-sized and large wineries with high volumes of wine, automated systems greatly speed the process for everything from case erection and sealing through label application. Either way, the desired end result is the same — to safely deliver their product to the store (or to your door!) without worries about labels falling off or cases shifting and potentially breaking in the process.

Adhesives: Easy to Overlook, Impossible to Go Without

Clearly, adhesives are a part of our everyday lives — in fact, they are so ubiquitous, we often overlook the role that they play in keeping us safe, comfortable and even entertained. From the seats of our cars, to the big Monday night game to the bottle of red ordered at the client dinner, adhesives are always around us. One thing is for certain — life would not be the same without them.

Pierce Covert is the president of Glue Machinery Corporation, a company that builds and stocks industrial strength adhesives and adhesives machinery.

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About

Electrical Engineer and business owner from the Nashville, Tennessee area. I also play music, Chess and Go.