Tire recycling firm Dodge-Regupol Inc. has purchased the recreational safety surfacing assets of SpectraTurf Inc. from PlayPower Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
SpectraTurf will continue to operate under its own name in Corona. Meanwhile, it also sold off its rubber truck mud flap operations to Mira Loma, Calif.-based Mitchell Rubber Products Inc., also for an undisclosed amount.
The deals were completed Dec. 31, according to Chris Wolf, the new general manager of SpectraTurf. Mr. Wolf had served as the company's national sales manager under PlayPower.
Included in the sale to Dodge-Regupol are the SpectraTurf pour-in-place and tile surfaces for playgrounds, schools, child care centers and similar places; its SpectraPour pour-in-place surfacing; and its SpectraBound safety tiles.
``The long-term plan is for the SpectraPour line to be run out of Southern California, just as it has been for many years,'' Mr. Wolf said in a press release. ``Many of the same installation crews and some of the same administrative staff will remain with the newly formed organization.''
No new products or distribution networks are anticipated at this time, he added.
Dodge-Regupol makes a number of commercial flooring products ``that have a very good coefficient of friction for slip resistance,'' according to a company spokeswoman. But it didn't have any products like SpectraTurf's before acquiring that company, she added.
Based in Lancaster, Pa., Dodge-Regupol claims to be the largest user of scrap tire rubber in North America, using 2.5 million tires or 45 million pounds of scrap rubber annually. It also uses ethylene-propylene rubber (EPDM), some of which is scrap, the spokeswoman said.
Besides its Everlast and ECOsurfaces flooring products, its major offerings include Regupol-QT impact sound insulation products and Transmat load securement products.
Its Lancaster plant sprawls over more than 450,000 square feet and employs 150, according to the company Web site.
Officials of Mitchell Rubber could not be reached for comment. According to the company's Web site, Mitchell Rubber has 400 employees and reports $50 million in annual sales. Besides the Mira Loma headquarters and molding plant, Mitchell has mixing facilities in City of Industry and Irvine, Calif., as well as a combined mixing and molding factory in Meyzieu, France.
In addition to rubber splash guards, wheel chocks and bumpers for the heavy-duty truck industry, Mitchell Rubber makes automobile floor mats, cargo mats and pickup truck bed mats; safety surfacing for playgrounds and weight rooms; and mats for the agricultural, earthmover and materials handling industries.