Chemline was founded in 1997 in John Pantanella’s garage. Three years before founding the company, John was working nights and weekends to develop a handful of products that would launch Chemline. In the early days, he rented lab space and access to fractional office and warehouse staff from another coatings manufacturer. They answered phones and shipped product while John traveled the eastern United States trying to sell Chemline products.
After eight months, a steel tank manufacturer in North Carolina gave Chemline its first order. Word spread quickly about the performance of Chemline products and exceptional service. Sales to other steel fabricators of tanks, pipes and poles followed. With steady sales from several loyal customers, John was able to hire a few industry all-stars and build on his early successes.
By 2005, Chemline was able to purchase a 100,000 square foot facility in St Louis, Missouri. After multiple acquisitions the business was growing so rapidly that John brought in full-time industry professionals to manage operations, sales and lab functions. With the new company structure and management in place, the business scaled from $10MM to over $50MM by 2014.
Chemline continues to grow rapidly as we strive to top $100MM in annual revenue. Chemline now has approximately 100 employees between two facilities in St. Louis, Missouri and Los Angeles, California. The head office is located in St. Louis and, after an extensive plant expansion, now occupies a 170,000 square foot facility where the most up-to-date chemical processing technology enables Chemline to quickly process a wide range of polyurethane resins. Chemline also has an extensive laboratory division where chemists work to create the next generation of polyurethane formulations.
