Lake Country strives to develop and manufacturer high quality products at a great value for all of their customers. Over the years we have seen the flat foam pads, CCS pads, and the new Force pads take the detailing industry by storm. Now this is only a fraction of the pads Lake Country offers, but it is amazing to see from a company that started all the way back in 1977 and only manufactured 4 lines of goods: sheepskin apparel, powder puffs, leather dice cups and sheepskin buffing pads. Now you can find Lake Country in over 50 countries worldwide and in the garages of many professional detailers and weekend warriors alike.
With Lake Country growing their line of pads, product offerings, etc. they have needed to move into a new facility and upgrade in various areas. Below you will find various photos of the new facility, but where we are really impressed is with the fantastic detailing bay. This area is where Lake Country is not only able to demonstrate products to customers, but they can perform some real world testing just as all of the Lake Country customers would. This helps them gather information and manufacture the great pads that we are use to using today. It also helps them keep their high quality standards on point at all times. Check out the bullets below, which contain some in depth information directly from our Lake Country Account Executive David Patterson!
- There is a table on the back wall under some LED lights to do spot testing when looking at the performance of a pad. Whether it is gauging the cutting ability or the quality of finish, the multiple types of painted panels and proper lighting make this job easy.
- We test using more than just our eyes. We use a perthometer to measure surface texture for scratch depth, but also test for gloss meter readings as well.
- The detailing area is perfectly set up with a CR Spotless water filter, proper tool storage throughout, LED correction lighting, air, electrical and a very clean working environment. We hope to have guest classes and professional training in this bay in the future, which will provide an area centrally located in the Midwest to use for these special detailing events.
- Our upstairs is where we perform demos of products for our potential customers and guests. It is a clean area with a demo booth to show clients without getting dirty or being in a “shop” environment. We have a large variety of products throughout the areas of our facility to be able to provide adequate technical feedback to customers using all types of products. We also keep many old products and competitors’ products to see how different buffing and polishing pads evolved and track how the trends are established over time.
- Our new facility gives us the capabilities of continuing to grow and increase our manufacturing capabilities. We are currently able to manufacture almost all of our products in house. Lake Country tufts and manufactures all of our wool pads from scratch and are the only company in the US manufacturing both steamed and unsteamed wool pads. We also have over 30 foam formulations to provide the best in foam buffing and cleaning products.
- To finish it off I just have a cool fact I thought I would share. We use natural air to cool the building in the summer. Our system allows us to cool the factory by taking cool air from the outside at 2am, when the air is typically the coolest, and pump it into the building. Because our building is made of Spancrete, it does a tremendous job not allowing cool or hot air to leave the building so we can “air condition” the building using natural air.
New Facility
Detailing Bay
We hope you enjoyed this article and if you have any questions for David or I, please leave them below. Do not forget to check out the product review of the Lake Country Force pad line as well!