Gellner Industrial, LLC: A Biographical and Historical Synopsis
On the day of March 1, 1980 what we know as Gellner Industrial, LLC was founded. It has been in operation for 33 years and as of March 1st 2013 has celebrated its 33rd Anniversary.
The founder, Otto Gellner, is an expert in the chemical field. In 1966, during a speech he was giving on the topic of chemical resins, owners of ZINSSER were impressed by his speech. They ended up offering him a position at ZINSSER. Otto accepted the position and created a division of ZINSSER known as ZINCHEM which manufactured water based acrylic polymers for the graphic arts industry. He helped build up the business division of ZINSSER known as ZINCHEM from 1966 to 1980.
Otto Gellner first established a laboratory & office located in Millington, New Jersey a small town forty-five minutes West of New York City. From there Otto developed formulas that would be produced by a toll manufacturer in South Carolina. He would pay the toll manufacturer to have the product made and shipped out to the customer on a pay by order basis. Otto’s intention was to eventually have his own plant where he could create his own product.
Otto had the expertise and the foresight that water was the future for the Resin Industry. The environmental regulations pressed upon resin producing companies opened up a tremendous opportunity for resins made by water-based technology.
Otto’s dream was realized with the construction of a polymer plant in neighboring Pennsylvania. Today the company manufactures its polymers in Hometown, Pennsylvania. The location is in the North Eastern part of the state in the foot hills of the Poconos. This makes for easy access to the Northeast corridor and three hours by truck to the port of New York for overseas shipments. The plant is currently undergoing its second expansion in thirteen years.
The son of Otto Gellner, Robert Gellner, worked for Gellner Industrial, LLC off and on during his available time while attending the University of Maryland. In 1985 Robert graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in economics.
In March of 1987, Robert started to work at the laboratory full time in New Jersey. He worked in the laboratory developing formulas for products as well as doing sales. Robert also oversaw the scale up of new products being made by the toll manufacturer in South Carolina. He would travel to see the production of their products made by the toll manufacturer three to four times a year.
On March 1, 2000 after an extensive search across neighboring states, Otto Gellner and Robert Gellner had a polymer plant built in the business friendly confines of the Tide Industrial Park located in Hometown, PA. Their first batch of water based acrylic polymers was manufactured on that day.
Gellner Industrial, LLC would ultimately create, produce, and sell water based acrylic polymers and resins to companies that make household paints, industrial coatings, and to the graphic arts industry.