Local manufacturer sets the gold standard for commercial roofing

The Wintrust Arena in Chicago is one of several North American stadiums with a Sarnafil roof. (Sika Sarnafil photo)

This story originally appeared in the January 23 edition of the Canton Citizen.

Its roofing and weatherproofing systems protect some of the most iconic buildings in Massachusetts and across North America. It is tops in the world in thermoplastic single-ply roofing, tops in the nation in PVC roof membranes, and is an industry pacesetter in sustainability and recycling practices.

It is Sika Sarnafil, and it’s based right here in Canton at 100 Dan Road.

Already a household name and a brand leader in the commercial construction world, Sika Sarnafil recently gained some added local exposure when it was featured on WCVB’s “Made in Mass” segment, which spotlights various manufacturing companies that are based in the Bay State. Airing in October on an evening broadcast of NewsCenter 5, the segment on Sika Sarnafil included a look inside the company’s 110,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Canton, where it produces large rolls of single-ply roofing material with a specialty in white reflective PVC membranes.

“Sometimes our customers don’t want white, like right now with the new [Las Vegas] Raiders stadium that we’re doing (with black and silver membrane),” explained Brian Whelan, executive vice president of roofing and flooring for Sika USA. “So we can make different colors of the membrane, but 95 percent of what we do is this white PVC membrane.”

Whelan, who is himself a Canton native, considers it a point of pride that Sika Sarnafil roofing can be found across the continent, with an estimated 200 million square feet manufactured annually on Dan Road.

Worldwide, the company’s roofing membrane covers 18 billion square feet of commercial real estate — protecting everything from skyscrapers (Hancock and Sears towers) to department stores (Target and Macy’s) to college and university buildings (Harvard and MIT).

Perhaps the most visible examples of Sika Sarnafil roofing systems are those covering major sports stadiums and arenas, including Boston’s own TD Garden, AT&T Stadium in Dallas (Cowboys), and the Staples Center in LA (Lakers, Clippers and Kings).

“We’re on TV just about every weekend,” noted Whelan, referring to the aerial shots of stadiums shown on sports broadcasts. “If you see a white roof on a stadium, a lot of the times, not all the time, but a lot of the times it’s going to be our roof.”

Several new stadiums also have or soon will have Sika Sarnafil membranes, including the recently opened Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Warriors; the Raiders’ new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas; and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, future home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers.

Other notable venues with Sika Sarnafil roofs include the Utah Olympic Oval from the 2002 Winter Olympics, now the home of the U.S. speedskating team, and the Rogers Center (formerly SkyDome) in Toronto, which had the first retractable roof in North America when it opened in 1989.

Whelan mentioned that the Rogers Center recently installed its second Sarnafil brand roofing membrane, 30 years after the installation of the original roof. What’s more, Sika Sarnafil has agreed to take back the old roofing material so that it can be recycled and used to create new membrane.

“We are the only commercial roofing manufacturer who will take back our old roof at the end of its service life and recycle it into new roofing membrane,” said Whelan, adding that Target stores, one of Sika Sarnafil’s largest customers, installs their roofs exclusively in part because of their take-back and recycling program.

The Music City Center in Nashville has four acres of green roof and over 800 solar panels. (Photo courtesy of Sika Sarnafil)

Whelan said the company’s recycling efforts are part of a broader corporate ethic that places a high priority on environmental responsibility and sustainability. Other examples can be found in product development, including solutions for solar panel mounting and green roof systems; environmental product declarations, which fully disclose the environmental impact of their roofing materials; and involvement with national programs such as LEED, Green Globes and more.

Sika Sarnafil is also the first and only single-ply roofing manufacturer to be “Platinum” rated, according to NSF/ANSI 347, the leading sustainability standard. “We helped actually define what sustainability is for roofing … and all of our products are platinum approved,” said Whelan. “So we’re ahead of the curve there, and we still have plenty of ways to go.”

Aside from the company’s commitment to sustainability, Whelan said he is most proud of the industry’s awareness and acceptance of the Sarnafil brand. “Our brand is extremely strong,” he said. “Everybody in the roofing business, whether it’s a contractor or an architect, or even some building owners, will know the Sarnafil brand as really the high-end single-ply roof system.”

And Whelan, too, has grown professionally right alongside the brand, having started out as one of the original team members with Sarnafil Inc. when the Swiss company expanded to the United States in 1980. After initially renting space in Needham, Sarnafil chose the Dan Road location for its North American headquarters, and over the next 25 years the roofing business grew while Whelan rose through the ranks, going from technical director to vice president of sales and marketing and eventually to president of Sarnafil’s North American operations. He has essentially retained that job ever since, although his title shifted to executive vice president of roofing and flooring when another Swiss corporation, Sika AG, acquired Sarnafil in 2005.

The fact that Whelan has been able to spend the bulk of his professional career in his hometown of Canton was mostly a happy coincidence, but it has afforded him a chance to have more time with his family, including his wife, Mary Kay, and daughters Brianna and Michelle.

He still travels frequently for work, both to Sika headquarters in Switzerland and to major job sites around the continent, but he appreciates being based so close to home and feels privileged to have helped build and sustain an industry leader in the town in which he was born, raised and educated. (A Canton High graduate, Whelan attended Blue Hills Technical Institute and received a degree in architectural technology. He later went on to complete the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School.)

AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. (Photo courtesy of Sika Sarnafil)

Now approaching his 40th year with the Sarnafil brand, Whelan remains passionate about his work and committed to innovation and growth strategies.

“In April we’re investing over a million dollars in a new packaging line, and the year after that $7 million that is going to add more horsepower to the [main production line] so it will run 20 percent faster than what it does now,” he said. “That will allow us to keep growing our business at our pace for another five or six years, and then we’ve got to build another line.”

In addition to the manufacturing plant and headquarters at 100 Dan Road, the company also owns a large warehouse across the street at 225 Dan Road, where the rolls of roofing membrane are stored before being sent out to job sites or other Sika Sarnafil locations around the country. All told, the North American roofing operation employs around 325 people, including between 85 and 100 in Canton, depending on the season.

Besides making a “very good membrane” that exceeds national standards and sustainability ratings, Whelan said Sika Sarnafil also boasts a network of well over 1,000 authorized contractors and offers “peace of mind” to the building owners in the form of a warranty, typically 20 years in length, that covers both materials and labor.

“Without a good contractor base, if it’s installed lousy it’s going to leak and it’ll be a problem,” he said. “So we consider our applicators to be partners in this process.”

At the end of the day, it all adds up to what Whelan firmly believes is a superior roof with an excellent and hard-earned reputation. And as a proud Cantonite and former Bulldog, that is something that he is eager to share with the local community.

“There are so many people who don’t know that really the largest thermoplastic roofing company in the world is right here in Canton,” he said. “And I think that they would be interested and also proud to know about this local company and all of the good stuff that we’re doing with our products.”

To learn more about Sika Sarnafil and its products and systems, visit usa.sika.com/sarnafil.

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