Macungie manufacturer helps bring the scares for ‘Stranger Things’

When you’re sitting down to get spooked by the final season of “Stranger Things” which premieres Friday on Netflix, you’re watching a little bit of locally made scares. 

On the eve of the season debut, the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation is reminding everyone that Smooth-On Inc. of Macungie develops materials used to craft movie monsters and other creatures. 

The company has made props, make up and effects for shows like “Stranger Things” and “The Last of Us” and even the James Bond and Harry Potter franchises. 

Founded in 1895 by Vreeland Tompkins, Smooth-On began with a powder compound called Iron Cement, which, when mixed with water, repaired cracks and holes in iron pipes and tanks.  

Since then, Smooth-On has grown into an international brand known for its innovation in chemical manufacturing, room-temperature-cured rubbers, and plastics. 

The company is among the nearly 700 manufacturers that make Lehigh Valley one of the Top 15% of manufacturing markets nationwide, based on Gross Domestic Product. Iconic brands such as Crayola crayons, Mack Trucks, Martin Guitars, and Lutron dimmers are among those made in Lehigh Valley, the LVEDC noted. 

Smooth-On’s 400,000-square-foot headquarters and facility is known for an elaborate showroom entryway and rooftop dragon.  

The showroom, Reynolds Advanced Materials, is open to the public, with items available for purchase for anyone to get creative at home, along with examples to spark imagination. 

“The goal of our showrooms is to inspire people for the possibilities,” Madeline Western, Smooth-On’s vice president of sales and marketing told the LVEDC. 

Besides the entertainment industry, the LVEDC said the company’s product lines of liquid silicones, urethane rubbers, foams, epoxies, and more are used across a range of industries, including molding and casting sound barriers for highways and medical simulation. 

Smooth-On, which has been in the Lehigh Valley for a decade, employs 200 locally and another 100 worldwide. 

The LVEDC noted that the Lehigh Valley’s easily accessible location was important in the decision to move to the region. One-third of the U.S. population is within a day’s drive. 

“We’re accessible by our global customer base who comes to visit us all the time,” Western said. “It’s just a very, accessible place to live. There’s something for everyone, and it’s big enough to be exciting, but small enough to feel like home.”