Back to Where It Began: CASF Returns to the DuPont Yerkes Plant

Each year, CASF runs an international conference for qualified fabricators — a five-day event with an itinerary organised entirely by CASF. This year, we took our fabricators to Toronto, Canada, with the trip also crossing the border into Buffalo, NY, USA, home to DuPont’s Yerkes plant — the birthplace of Corian® Solid Surface — on September 8th, 2026. Over 70 CASF fabricators, team members and industry guests made the journey.

The visit carried special significance. In 2001, CASF took a small, intimate group of fabricators on the original trip to Yerkes. Twenty-five years on, we were able to bring over 70 — a scale that makes this kind of experience truly unique for the industry.

Left to Right: Luciano Corso, Richard Wang, Michael Hazelman, Craig Smith

Two fabricators from that original 2001 trip returned to walk the plant floor again: Richard Wang from Palette Solid Surface & Fabrication and Michael Hazelman from Advanced Solid Surface.

Top row L-R: Brett Mildren, Peter Le Cornu, Gavin Christie, Michael Hazelman, Michael Francis, Richard Wang, Ben Madden, Jason Grant

Alongside them were representatives of the other original visiting businesses — some successors carrying the legacy forward, others simply new to the business — including Brett Mildren (SA Solid Surface Fabricators), Michael Francis (SCF), Gavin Christie (ACRT Fabricators Australia), Jason Grant (Capital Solid Surface) and Ben Madden (Capital Veneering).

CASF was represented by Directors Craig Smith and Luciano Corso, along with Paula Corso; National Sales Manager Ryan Clarke; sales team members Silvia Davison and Rachel Polidano — both with CASF for over 18 years — Peter Le Cornu; and Marketing’s Emily Camongol.

Inside the Plant

The DuPont team took our group through the full journey behind every sheet of Corian® — from raw material to finished product. Condylia Courtney, Global Business Director, Corian® Design, welcomed the group, with Jeffrey Rose, Global Technology Manager, Corian® Design, leading the day. Fabricators were split into smaller groups, each guided through the plant by DuPont staff who covered how quality, colour and consistency are engineered into the material, including:

• The manufacturing process behind Corian® Solid Surface sheets
• How colour development and formulation are managed to maintain consistency across the Corian® range
• The rigorous testing processes applied throughout production
• The research and development work driving the next generation of Corian® innovation

For a group spanning fabricators who have worked with the material for decades and others attending their first CASF international conference altogether, seeing the process up close was a rare opportunity to connect the craftsmanship on the ground back to where it all starts.

Twenty-five years after CASF’s first visit to Yerkes, this return trip brought things full circle — standing in the same plant, with old friends and new faces alike.