Controlled Products is the world’s leading manufacturer of turf. Our influence extends from initiating research. Most of the innovation in the turf industry for over 25 years is due to our commitment. We incorporate the latest technology into each project and into our state-of-the-art facilities in Dalton, Georgia.
We are equipped to develop, market and package innovative, customized turf solutions. We are still the industry leaders in innovation and technology, so we can build any turf you need. We also build long-term relationships with our dealers, worldwide. Controlled Products is committed to advancing the turf industry.
Back in the 1960's the Chemstrand Company was developing a new synthetic fiber for use in carpeting. They were encouraged by the Ford Foundation to use this technology to develop an urban playing surface. It seemed that urban kids were less physically fit than kids living in rural areas. With the goal of creating a natural looking play area that could be set up and maintained easily inside a city, Chemstrand turned its attention to creating a product that "looks like grass and acts like grass." They worked for years to formulate something that could replicate the look and feel of natural grass. Early results were marginally successful; however, the initial technology, used primarily on athletic fields, did not allow the athletes a full range of natural movement. Throughout the 1960s, Chemstrand worked to improve the technology.
Branching Out Beyond Athletic Fields
As the industry grew, synthetic turf spread from playing fields to large-scale sports arenas and beyond. What has once been impossible became possible, and the uses for this new synthetic turf exploded. Research and development continued to improve and diversify the range and quality of products and services that were available. In the 1990’s, new technologies allowed for the creation of more durable and versatile turf, and the industry experienced a complete revolution, thanks to scientific breakthroughs on everything from synthetic materials to adhesives and backing systems.
Ten Years of Advancements - Information and Technology Transform the industry
The industry as a whole has seen more advancement in the last 10 years than in the previous 40 years. Focus on infilled polyethylene and polypropylene products has expanded the uses for synthetic turf exponentially. Ideal for residential and commercial landscaping, golf courses and playgrounds, there are new ideas constantly springing up as the technology allows for more diverse applications. Thanks to new developments, there are hundreds of new ways to utilize synthetic turf.
An Industry Leader Sets the Pace
Safety, loyalty, and quality go hand in hand. We build long term relationships with each dealer and customer that we work with, ensuring that each distributor receives the products and support relevant to their needs.
Tailor the Row, Gauge and Stitch to any specification
Produce over 5 million ft2 in a month
Any color…Any Style…Any location
Our Capabilities
Develop, market & package custom turf solutions
Product Design
We can help you take your product idea and make it a reality. Our team of experts at Controlled Products will help you focus on the details that make successful products work and free you up to do what you do best; sell and develop relationships.
Coatings and Foam
Each type of coating provides a different performance characteristic. From our in-house Silverback™ specialty coating to a standard foam based product, we have the ideal range of coatings to enhance performance, durability and longevity.
Yarns bring the product to life. It is the yarn in the design that gives your product a unique look and feel. You can choose from many types of yarns available in the marketplace from a variety of manufacturers. The type of yarn can affect ball roll, speed of play, coolness, longevity, color and coefficient of friction. Our team of experts can help you to select the perfect yarn for your needs.
Backing
Backing provides stability performance and consistency. We have many types of backing available depending upon your needs and expectations for product performance. Work with our team to select the right backing and backing manufacture.
Marketing and Design
Our marketing and design team specializes in taking your idea and bringing them to life in your own marketing collateral. Whether it’s website design, sales sheets, technical sheets or ad placements, our team will come up with the concept design and implementation of how to make your product ideas a reality.
Joanna started at Controlled Products as a graphic designer and has been in the turf industry for 10 years. Now, she manages the Marketing Department and is responsible for the design of all the sales and marketing collateral. Some examples of her work would be the design of brochures, web and print ads, spec sheets and packaging. Joanna has past experience of designing the Whitfield County Food Service Mascot as well as Dug Gap Elementary’ s new mascot, the Bandit. She is a graduate of Berry College with a degree in Fine Arts and currently resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee with her husband.
Hunter displayed his artistic talents at an early age with a never-ending barrage of elementary school artwork. Still, it wasn’t until he snagged a graphic design internship for the football program at Clemson University that he discovered he had a passion for graphic design. After completing his degree in Graphic Communications from Clemson in 2014, Hunter joined Maxim Label and Packaging. For two years, he was assisting sales and management in their growth as an international printing company. During that time, Hunter became a liaison between the United States and Chinese operations working with major retailers like Nike, GAP, and Hanes. Then, in 2017, he decided to return to Upstate, SC, and get serious about pursuing marketing. Hunter worked for Martin-Holland Advertising for three years until his family moved to Chattanooga, TN. Hunter was raised in Clemson, SC, and grew up thinking that the world was Pantone 1595. He enjoys tailgating, grilling out, watching sports, spending time with family, and good whiskey.
Hayley King graduated from the University of North Georgia in December of 2020 with a Fine Arts degree. Shortly after graduation, she started her career at Controlled Products in January of 2021 as a Marketing Assistant. Some examples of her work are social media posts, writing blogs, design, high resolution printing, and more. Hayley was the Public Relations chair in her sorority in college which included social media posting and designing shirts, banners, and more. Hayley resides in Dalton, Georgia with her family.
Kaylah Santos is a recent college graduate from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in Communication and a minor in Psychology. She was the social media intern for the University for 3 years. She started at Controlled Products in June as a Marketing Content Creator. Some examples of her work would be designing social media posts, scheduling and planning posts, engaging with the customers, and more. Kaylah resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee with her boyfriend and their pup.
Joseph uses his professional skills to help facilitate the process of designing your dream sports field and making it a reality. By coordinating with our talented sales representatives, Joseph designs sports fields to capture the customer’s vision on to paper. From Football Stadiums to Multi-Sport Complexes, there are plenty of options to choose from. After a final design has been approved, Joseph takes these designs and dissects the fields into smaller pieces in order to prepare the turf for manufacturing. Joseph then creates a vital step-by-step guide by preparing a visual road map for fabrication, alongside installation instructions, which will guide the journey of the turf from manufacturing all the way through to installing the brand new field.
Greg has over 10 years’ experience as both a Plant and Fabrication Manager in the Turf industry, and has been with Controlled Products for the last 3 years. Between deployments with the US Air Force, he earned his degree attending Pima Community College and the University of Arizona, along with his Pilot’s license at Davis-Monthan AF Base, Tucson, AZ. With an artistic and mechanical background, Greg became owner of two Sign and Graphics businesses that eventually introduced him to Turf fabrication. Greg still lives where he was raised, as the fifth generation on his family’s farmland in Rocky Face Georgia, along with his son Tucker, an SFAB Combat Advisor in the Georgia Army National Guard. Forever tinkering with various construction projects, Greg enjoys a challenge, old cars and dogs, and shooting stuff.
Sharon joined Controlled Products in the Summer of 2016. Sharon is responsible for leading and managing Customer Service for all selling divisions, including Fabrications, and Sample distribution. Her responsibilities include overseeing order entry, distribution to manufacture, and release for shipment, while ensuring all qualities of service are met. Her main objective is to continue restructuring the department by coaching the team to become more consistent with their methods of entry and identify areas that have any opportunities for improvement. Mrs. Verner has over 15 years’ experience within the Turf Industry. Her experience includes all areas of manufacturing, quality, system development, and now Customer Service. Her desire and drive to excel in all areas has allowed her to be a great asset in leading our Customer Service Team. Mrs. Verner and her husband reside in Chatsworth, Georgia with their two wonderful daughters.
Damon has been in the synthetic turf industry for 13 years. He is a family man that volunteers in the community in many areas such as Outreach at HPCOG, coaching through the local parks and recreation department and Select Baseball, along with serving the community through Outer4 Ministries. Damon started his career at Mohawk Industries in the Mohawk Home Division where he filled many roles such as scheduling, safety, software/equipment training, and department supervisor. In 2006, Damon moved his experiences to Controlled Products a leading manufacturer of Synthetic Turf. He has served in many areas and filled gaps while being employed at CP by leading and maintaining the R&D of a quality product line, scheduling, costing, and safety. He currently serves as the companies Senior Technical Manager and is the bridge between Manufacturing and Sales/Customer Support through his knowledge of manufacturing, synthetic turf applications in the market place, synthetic turf construction, and athletic field layouts and performance. He is also an STC Certified Landscape Installer.
Tasha joined Controlled Products in 2019 as an Account Manager for the private labeled division. Since starting with Controlled Products she has focused on growing relationships with our customers and assisting them with their turf needs. Her responsibilities will be to work on domestic and international accounts ranging from sports fields, batting cages, backyards, putting greens, bocce courts, and various other turf applications. Tasha comes to us with 15 years of Accounting, Customer Service and IT experience in the Manufacturing Industry. She attended Dalton State and Chattanooga State college, were she was a Biology major. She has two wonderful children, Kenedie and Jace, that are the center of her world that she has shared with her husband of 22 years.
Wendy started with Controlled Products as a Customer Service Representative. In 2015 she was promoted to Sales Account Manager within our sales division. At present she is primarily involved in assisting with the growth of our Private Label Non Field Division. Her primary responsibilities will be to work on domestic and international accounts ranging from sports fields, batting cages, backyards, putting greens, bocce courts, and various other turf applications. Wendy comes with 13 years of previous Human Resources experience in the Manufacturing Industry. She attended Dalton State College and resides in Dalton, GA with her daughter.
Jimmy joined Controlled Products in the summer of 1999 and currently serves as our Business Director for our Private Label Non Field Division. Jimmy’s primary responsibilities include supervising and managing all business functions associated with the P/L non field division. These responsibilities include generating new business as well as domestic and international customer relations. Jimmy has over 25 years of experience in the artificial turf industry where he has served in various rolls including, research and development, marketing, product development, new business development, installation, tech services, project management, and manufacturing as well as various over sight roles. Jimmy graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1990 with a Bachelor’s in Industrial Management with a minor in business. Mr. Rogers is an active member of the Frist United Methodist Church of Dalton and actively works with Boy Scouts of America and has previously served on several community boards. Jimmy and his wife Laura reside in Dalton with their two children who are both active in sports.
Elaine started with Sporturf in the spring of 1999 as a Customer Service Representative. She was promoted to Customer Service Manager in 2004. While working as the Customer Service Manager, Mrs. Pack took on more of an account management roll and was promoted to a Sales Account Manager in 2009 for our Sporturf division. During 2014, Elaine was promoted to Senior Account Manager of our non-field division. During her tenure at Controlled Products she has worked on domestic and international accounts ranging from sports fields, batting cages, custom logos, backyards, putting greens, bocce courts, tennis courts, and various other turf applications. Elaine attended the University of Tennessee Chattanooga and completed her studies at Dalton State College. She and her husband Jarrett reside in Rocky Face, Georgia with their two children.
Scott joined Controlled Products, LLC in 2009 as Chief Operating Officer and was named President in 2010. Previously, Scott was employed by The Dow Chemical Co. from 1988 through 2009. Scott served in a number of commercial roles while employed by Dow with his last role being the Global Business Director for the Polyurethane Systems Flooring Division. Under his leadership, Dow was able to expand a North America business to a Global platform including new business developments in Europe, Middle East, China, Australia/New Zealand, and Japan. Scott has served as a board member of the Synthetic Turf Council since 2009 and most recently Vice Chairman of the STC. Scott has a BS in Business Administration from The Citadel and a MBA from Southern Methodist University. Scott and his wife Wendy reside in Ooltewah Tennessee with their two children.
Kevin joined Controlled Product in the fall of 2013. Kevin is responsible for leading and managing all of Controlled Products domestic and international marketing functions. His responsibilities include all consumer product marketing and advertising, public relations, special events, sales network communications, database and customer relationship management, and lead generation. Mr. Barker has over 20 years’ experience in both business to consumer and business to business marketing. He has overseen a wide variety of domestic and global marketing accounts that have launched new products and brands for a number of companies such as Connor Sport Court International, Athletic Republic and Aacer Sports Flooring. Mr. Barker has a degree in Business Administration from University of Arizona and completed MBA work in Marketing from Denver University. Mr. Barker and his wife reside in Chattanooga Tennessee with their two daughters.
Howell is a seasoned accounting professional with over 30 years of experience. He brings more than 17 years of proven financial and operational experience as a CFO in the turf industry. Howell has served in his current role with Controlled Products since 2008; prior to that, he served as the CFO for Evergreen Synthetic Turf, where he helped grow the business and expand its profitability, eventually leading to its sale to Controlled Products. He is experienced in providing strategic operational leadership across an array of functions, including finance, operations, strategic planning, ERP conversion, and M&A. He actively participates on numerous boards in Dalton, Georgia, while serving as a Past-President of Dalton Golf & Country Club. Mr. Kerr and his wife, Kayanne, have two children in college and reside in Dalton, Georgia.
Frank joined the Controlled Products team in the summer of 2000. Mr. Harp has been working in and around the manufacturing field for more than 35 years. His responsibilities currently include the day to day operations of the manufacturing of all turf products, as well as development of new products. Mr. Harp’s most recent project has been the installation of our new state of the art coating machine, which has proven to be very efficient and quality driven along with all the ISO programs that he has put into place. Frank began working in manufacturing at a very early age and has continued throughout his career. He has worked for Little Lake Industries based out of California, Capitol Interiors out of Chicago and Wellington Industries out of South Carolina. Frank and his wife Angela reside in Cartersville Georgia. They have two grown children whom they enjoy spending time with.
