Cultured Marble vs Solid Surface Manufacturing

Cultured Marble vs Solid Surface Manufacturing

We get inquiries from individuals about setting up a solid surface factory who were not clear of the differences between ‘cultured marble’ and ‘solid surface’.  What we refer to as ‘cultured marble’ is called ‘solid surface’ in many parts of the world.  We offer solid surface equipment as well as cultured marble equipment so we can set up a factory to produce either. 

If someone wants to manufacture bathroom and kitchen building materials locally, a ‘cultured marble’ factory is the easiest and least expensive to set up and cultured marble is the easiest to manufacture and the least costly product to produce.

Solid Surface is a great product.  It’s beautiful, very durable, stain resistant, available in a large variety of solid and granite colors, requires very little maintenance and most important, is easy to clean, easy to repair and won’t harbor bacteria which makes it a popular choice for kitchens, commercial installations and hospitals. Solid surface is made in flat sheets that can be fabricated for endless seamless possibilities.

Cultured marble is also very durable, stain resistant, available in a large variety of solid and granite colors, requires very little maintenance, is easy to clean, and won’t harbor bacteria.  The main difference is that cultured marble is restricted to the mold that it is poured on as it cannot be seamed together like solid surface.  But, since cultured marble products are made from a wide assortment of molds, it is basically ready for the market when it is  taken off the mold.

Some quick facts:
∙    Cultured marble does not require fabrication.  Solid surface does.
∙    Cultured marble does not require a belt sander and other fabrication tools. Solid surface does.
∙    Cultured marble does not require a vacuum blender. Manufacturing solid surface does.
∙    Cultured Marble does not require a post cure oven.  Solid surface does.
∙    Cultured Marble is made from inexpensive crushed limestone that is available everywhere in the world. Solid surface requires a refined raw material called alumina trihydrate that has to be imported in most parts of the world.

There is a glut of solid surface manufacturers around the world so it has become a very competitive market.  We recommend starting out manufacturing 'cultured marble', study your local solid surface market potential before jumping into this market. Since solid surface is made in sheets (and 'fabricated' on the job-site per each job specifications), a solid surface manufacturer who can buy the raw materials locally has a huge advantage and can ship 50,000 tons of solid surface sheets in one small 20 foot container, anywhere in the world. That is a lot of solid surface for a small per-kg shipping cost. Even though it's hard to be competitive manufacturing solid surface sheets but you have a niche project that requires you to produce solid surface, let us know.

We won't sell something for the sake of 'making a sale'. We want to make sure our customers can make money on what we sell them.

You will find various sizes of cultured marble factory layouts at the bottom of this page:
http://culturedmarblemolds.com/equipment.html