Launching a new adhesive or sealant can be a race against time and resources. Your in-house equipment has limits, and adding capacity isn’t cheap…or fast. Toll manufacturing lets you outsource production to experts who know the chemistry, the compliance rules, and the equipment inside and out. As a result, your product hits the market without missing a beat. Toll manufacturing, also called chemical tolling or contract manufacturing in the CASE (Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants, and Elastomers) world, lets you partner with specialists to bring your formulas to full-scale production. At TSE Industries, we handle the mixing, processing, and packaging. We can even blind ship your product under your brand, giving you a seamless extension of your operations.
Key Benefits
The CASE Tollers help companies cut upfront costs by eliminating the need for massive reactors or specialized cleaning systems, like our stainless-steel vessels up to 4,000 gallons that few companies can justify owning. Toll manufacturing with us also unlocks scalability, whether you’re producing a few hundred pounds of reactive hot melt adhesives or thousands of batches of elastomers, with smooth transitions from lab to full-scale production.
Expertise is another advantage: our team brings decades of experience in polyurethane chemistry, handling precise in-line filtration (10–800 micron) and maintaining ISO 9001:2015-certified quality systems. That means consistent, reliable products for demanding applications across industries such as automotive, construction, and many others, while freeing your team to focus on product development and securing dependable supply chains.
The Toll Manufacturing Process Step by Step
Curious what toll manufacturing looks like in practice? With years of experience, we’ve seen this process run smoothly again and again.
Initial Consultation and Development
You share your formula and goals, and our team of chemists and engineers at The CASE Tollers’ Development and Analytical Center reviews the process and runs small-scale tests to ensure it can scale effectively. At a customer’s request, our team can also evaluate the formulation and suggest process improvements to support efficient production. Throughout this phase, statistical process control helps identify and manage variables early so the transition to larger batches runs smoothly.
Scale-Up and Pilot Production
After our team has run lab batches, we begin scaling the process using our pilot equipment. Production can move from our 3-pail pilot reactor and scale up step by step when needed, including up to our 70-drum full-scale reactors. Batch sizes can also be customized based on your specific production requirements. Throughout this stage, our team works closely with you to ensure the process is tailored to your product and manufacturing needs. The result is a seamless transition to full-scale production with the flexibility required for your formulation.
Full-Scale Manufacturing
Your product is then produced in our large reactors, where blending, reacting, and filtering happen under precise conditions. Multiple production lines allow us to run simultaneous batches efficiently and maintain consistent quality.
Quality Testing and Packaging
Every batch undergoes thorough testing in our on-site lab. Each production run also goes through certificate of analytics based on customer specifications before packaging. Once approved, products are packaged to your requirements in cartridges, slugs, pails, drums, totes, or tanker trucks. We can also handle drop-shipping to keep your brand front and center.
Shipping and Follow-Up
Products ship globally through reliable networks across North America, Europe, Asia, and beyond. From the initial consultation, which can include our R&D services, all the way to full-scale commercialization, The CASE Tollers provide complete turnkey solutions. Our team works alongside you at every stage, serving as a trusted partner to help bring your products to market efficiently and reliably.
When to Choose Toll Over In-House
Toll manufacturing can be a smart option when demand spikes seasonally, such as increased need for adhesives during major infrastructure projects, or when you are testing a new market without tying up your own production lines. It’s also a strong solution if your team needs additional expertise in specialized chemistries like TDI prepolymers or thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs), or when regulatory compliance and global distribution capabilities are more important than owning the production equipment yourself.
In-house production may make more sense for extremely high volumes with stable formulations where maintaining complete control outweighs the need for flexibility. However, for many companies in the CASE industry balancing cost, speed, and quality, partnering with an experienced toll manufacturer can provide a significant advantage.
With more than 60 years of experience through TSE Industries, a global manufacturing network, and advanced production capabilities, The CASE Tollers help companies bring their coatings, adhesives, sealants, and elastomers to market efficiently and reliably.
Ready to explore chemical toll manufacturing for your coatings or adhesives production? Contact us today to start the conversation with our team.
