Sandler Nonwoven Corporation entrusted Pond’s design professionals to provide complete architectural, engineering, and construction administration services for renovating and upfitting their 135,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Perry, Georgia. The project consisted of the design of a new warehouse and the associated new nonwoven manufacturing line installation. The new building houses production, warehousing, and distribution facilities. The new manufacturing line is for nonwovens that target hygiene applications and convert baled polypropylene fibers into various health-related goods, including personal protective equipment (PPE).

Sustained cleanliness of the facility is paramount, and Pond designed the facility to promote stringent health and cleanliness standards. The existing nonwoven process plant receives bulk fiber bales, which are processed into large rolls of hygienic fibers used in personal hygiene products. The new 200,000-square-foot, 38-foot-high building more than doubled the existing factory’s footprint and added processes for two manufacturing woven material lines. This investment strengthens Sandler’s position as one of the largest nonwoven manufacturers worldwide and significantly impacts the creation of jobs in Georgia.

Pond incorporated a custom-designed air unit that uses dry air to pneumatically convey fibers from process station to process station and in situ mixing, and a custom masonry unit wall encases the pump room due to the loud nature of the equipment. Equipment mezzanines are utilized for electrical power and the instrumentation & controls PLCs. The Pond team designed the warehouse to incorporate IMP wall panels for the entire structure, including hygiene gates, to enter the new production site.