Permacel
Permacel, a division of the Nitto Denko company, is an industrial adhesive tape manufacturing company. Headquartered in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, United States, the company produces 350 kinds of tape used in a broad range of industries, including paper masking tape, reinforced strapping tape, paper packaging tape, PTFE tape, film tape, double coated tape, transfer tape, repulpable tape, thread seal, foil tape, surface protective films and vinyl tape. Permacel manufactured and sold graphic art tapes until 2004 when that part of their business was sold to Shurtape Technologies.
History
In the 1920s, a small Detroit druggist had uncovered and was selling Johnson & Johnson surgical tape to a car manufacturer who used the tape for masking two-tone paint jobs. By 1927, Johnson & Johnson recognized the market potential for tape products in the industrial market and a small department was formed to market "masking tape". Cellophane and paper tapes were soon developed for the industrial market. This new division of Johnson & Johnson was called the Revolite Corporation. In 1947, Revolite was renamed the Industrial Tape Corporation and in 1953 ITC became Permacel. The name came from the brand-name of the first product shipped from its plant, "Permacel", a masking tape. In 1982, Permacel was acquired by Avery International, a self-adhesive label company. In 1988, Permacel was acquired by Nitto Denko.
Permacel claims a number of firsts: first masking tape, first filament reinforced tape and patents, first polypropylene tape, first PTFE thread sealant tape, first colored and waterproof cloth tape, and first aluminum foil tape. (Source, corporate literature). The company also developed duct tape in 1942 (as Revolite Corporation)
On March 31, 2009, Permacel announced that it would be closing its manufacturing facilities in Buena Park, California, and Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, by September 30, 2009.