Valco Cincinnati, established in 1952 and based in Cincinnati, Ohio, began by manufacturing and distributing hot and cold adhesive application systems for the packaging and paper converting industry. But when they acquired the Spanish company Melton in 2006, they expanded their hot melt business. On the hot melt side however, Valco wanted to make sure the end users were not only pleased with equipment performance and reliability, but customers were able to maintain their melters and applicators in “like new condition” by cleaning the buildup from glue residue and reducing maintenance. Andy Karel, Valco Melton’s Northern territory hot-melt product specialist, was often asked by customers how to properly maintain hot-melt equipment and effectively clean the residue. And it’s a question Karel frequently asked himself, too, as he hadn’t yet found a cleaner that was up to the task.
While working for an adhesives manufacturer, Frank Cavallo, founder of Canadian adhesive cleaner company GlueGuard, Inc., also noticed an impetus for an adhesive cleaner that could effectively remove residue without using harmful solvents. Cavallo took the feedback he heard from end users and other OEMs, like Valco Melton, and created GlueGuard, a brand that offers non-citrus- and non-solvent-based adhesive cleaning products for hot-melt, water-based, solvent-based and PUR adhesive applications. Karel and Cavallo had previously established a relationship during Cavallo’s tenure at the adhesives manufacturing company. As a result, when Karel first heard about Cavallo’s new company, GlueGuard, he decided to see how the adhesive cleaners worked on Valco Melton’s hot-melt equipment.
