About ITL

Fostoria, Ohio - ITL® East Coast Fabrication & Distribution Center Strategic Expansion

In March, 2011, ITL® officially opened a new 192,000 SF Fabrication and Distribution Center in Fostoria, Ohio.

This new plant provides ITL® customers immediate service access in the Marcellus, Utica and other regional plays along with multiple East Coast industrial markets.

The Fostoria Plant has increased ITL® annual fabrication capacity to over 300 million square feet of product.

ITL® Expands Liner Executive Team

In preparation for new ITL® East Coast facility, Ron MacKenzie was hired as Eastern Operations Manager. Ron comes to ITL® with over 25 years in the industrial liner and containment industry.

Ron’s prior experience includes Construction Manager with MPC and GM/COO, BTL Group of Companies.

His expertise ranges from worldwide projects for liner installations to production and manufacturing, totaling over 300 million SF of liner products.

Production Triples

ITC Services was formed as a new corporation with Freddie Prado as General Manager to focus on "Protecting Agriculture Commodities" with locations in Washington State, Oregon, and Idaho.

Inland Tarp & Cover's Sales Manager Calvin Stapleton focused on retail internet sales, and distribution of IT&C products throughout the world through its extensive network of dealers and distributors.

IT&C's Production Manager Nick Holland is rapidly expanding its production of hay tarps, liners, truck tarps, and other products at the Moses Lake facilities.

Production Triples

In 2005, ITC tripled its fabrication and production volume at the Moses Lake plant with worldwide sourcing and distribution of Performer Hay Tarps and a vast array of tarp accessories.

ITL® Enters Liner Industry

In 2003, ITL® made a strategic decision to dedicate resources to expand into the liner industry. Calvin Stapleton was hired as Operations & National Sales Manager.

As a graduate in plastics engineering, Calvin’s extensive management experience during the 1980’s and 1990’s constitutes millions SF of liner projects for customers such as Shell, Chevron, Petro Canada and global locations spanning Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Jordan, Middle East.

During his tenure, ITL® Liner products and sales have exceeded hay tarps with an unlimited horizon.

"A Pioneer and Leader…"The decision by the Japanese government to refuse entry into Japan of any alfalfa hay containing wheat, straw or grasses caused a big move away from using straw bales for haystack covering. Hay barns or hay tarps were the logical alternatives. The export market quickly expanded the need for hay tarp covering.

New Agricultural Service Company - Western Expansion - New ITL® Headquarters

1990 ushered in not only a new name, Inland Tarp & Cover, Inc. (IT&C), but an expanded hay tarp rental business, year-round manufacturing of hay and truck tarps and move to Almira, Washington.

Sales of hay and truck tarps expanded to 22 Western States.

In 1997 ITL® purchased 44 acres of I-90 frontage property from Midwest Agri-Commodities and built the 72'x150' clear span fabric covered production Center. On April 1st 1998, all operations of IT&C, except manufacturing, were moved to Moses Lake, WA. This greatly improved IT&C's ability to service its local clients with much quicker installation and repair of tarps.

Expansion in California - ITC 24-Hour Service - GPS Tracking for Stack Locations

Bob Mamer of the Wilbur Ellis El Centro hay export division was principally responsible for introducing the concept to the Southern California region.

In 1999 IT&C's installation crews averaged nearly a 24-hour turnaround time on installation order, a major improvement from five years ago.

From the time IT&C received complete customer information to the time the tarp was installed, averaged only 24 hours. Weather conditions were the single greatest obstacle to improving the quick turnaround time.

Obtaining accurate directions to the stack sites was the second obstacle. IT&C is currently using state-of-the-art GPS tracking methods to provide accurate stack location information for the benefit of IT&C and the customer.

Tie-Down System Patented - Hay Tarp Rentals

The next challenge in product design, manufacturing and installation was the perfection of effective tie-down systems. Traditional grommets pulled out. After years of R&D, Glen introduced in 1987 the Super Hay Tarp.

The Super Hay Tarp eliminated grommets on the side substituting them with pipes and ropes for tie downs. In mid-November of 1989 this new system was thoroughly tested when 100 mph winds whipped through Quincy, Washington. Of the 45 tarps installed, only 2 blew loose!

In 1988 operations were located to Hartline, Washington and sales expanded to California’s hay producing region, the Imperial Valley. This expansion and growth continued in 1989 with the introduction of hay trap rentals. Nearly 5,000 tons of hay was covered in year one.

Glen Knopp, Founder & Owner Launches Inland Tarp & Liner

As a hay producer and rancher in Marlin, Washington, Glen has a rich history, knowledge and background in ranching and agriculture* (see below).

In 1977 Glen started to use a lightweight Canadian made hay tarp on his haystacks. The fabric was a new innovation only recently developed. Within a year, hay growers in the region recognized the advantage of hay tarps and Inland sales began in Washington.

*Western Ranching and Hay Production

It has been said that harvesting hay for forage is a Northern Region phenomenon. Centuries ago as civilization moved North from the arid regions where cattle could graze year round, people recognized livestock feed had to be harvested and stored for winter-feed. A local story is told about Ben Snipes who was titled "Cattle King" of Eastern Washington during the late 1800's. Ben usually wintered his herds in the Southern Regions of Washington where open grazing had been common to impervious mild winters. During one particularly hard winter, the grass his cattle normally grazed was buried with snow for several months. As a result, thousands of cattle starved to death. The following years, in order to avoid a repeat of this serious economic setback, Snipes harvested the native grass and stockpiled it for winter cattle feed. These may have been some of the first haystacks in Eastern Washington.

The large farm museum in Minden, Nebraska has a display demonstrating an early method of covering outside haystacks. It was a commercially produced series of steel hangars that held 1" x 12" planks that overlapped from the bottom to the top of the stack on each side, like the siding on a house. It worked, but it was very labor intensive and costly due to the purchase of lumber.

In the 60's and 70's most commercial hay producers in the Columbia Basin area used either hay barns or straw bales to cover their haystacks. Because of the shortage of hay barns and capital to buy them, barns usually were not an option. Some growers tried heavy canvas tarps or vinyl truck tarps, but found them expensive and difficult to handle.