Preferred Plastics Inc. is adding onto its extrusion facility in Louisville, Ky., to meet increasing demand for a customer's gutter guard system that is said to filter out not only leaves but debris as thin as pine needles.
PPI is the exclusive manufacturer for the product sold by Leaf Home Solutions LLC, a $582 million company based in Hudson, Ohio, that offers the three-part patented system called LeafFilter Gutter Protection.
Founded in 2005, Leaf Home Solutions has grown into the largest gutter protection company in the U.S., according to a Feb. 19, 2019, story in Plastics News' sister publication Crain's Cleveland Business. The business has a 300-person call center in Ohio and was considering a second call center on the West Coast, the article says.
PPI, the exclusive manufacturer of the LeafFilter system, will add 11,000 square feet of space at its Louisville site, where it extrudes and warehouses the product line, according to an article on the Louisville Business First website.
The company's other manufacturing plant and headquarters is in Plainwell, Mich.
Founded in 1975, PPI extrudes trim, weather stripping, window and door components and other building products for houses, condos, high-rises, offices, shopping centers and business parks. The company ranks 60th among North American pipe, profile and tubing producers based on 2018 annual sales of $52 million, according to Plastics News' latest ranking, which will be updated next month.
The LeafFilter system sold by Leaf Home Solutions was designed to fit all gutters and keep out everything but water. It consists of a stainless-steel micromesh interior that the company says is so fine no grit can get through, an unplasticized PVC frame for durability and internal hidden hangers, all of which Leaf Home Solutions says optimizes debris repellence and weather protection.
More than 44 million feet of LeafFilters have been installed for 422,000 customers, according to the parent company.
In addition to LeafFilters, the company started a new division called Leaf Home Solutions to sell walk-in showers and stair lifts.
PPI began extruding LeafFilters two years ago, the local media site says. The company's expansion to produce more LeafFilters will begin in about eight weeks, it also says.