When there is an environmental challenge most anywhere in the world — a contaminated lagoon in France, an eroding coastline in Kenya, a phosphate mine in Australia — engineers and project owners increasingly turn to a small company on East Lillian Street in Metter, Georgia for the answer. Flint Technical Geosolutions (FTG) has become a global name in geosynthetic solutions, and many of their neighbors in Candler County have no idea it exists.
“Through our company and its subsidiaries, FTG makes deals all over the world, but nobody seems to know much about us right here at home,” says FTG President B. Smallwood.
That quiet-but-global reputation is the result of 30 years of product innovation, disciplined fabrication, and a culture built on relationships.
Three Divisions, Countless Applications
FTG operates across three core divisions. The Coastal Division delivers protection, land reclamation, and harbor solutions using TITANTube® and TITANBag® geotextile systems to build island perimeters, restore marshlands, and armor shorelines against erosion. The Sludge Dewatering Division provides water and wastewater solutions for industries ranging from mining and municipal treatment to pulp and paper, food processing, and animal waste — using TITANTube® high-flow dewatering tubes to passively separate water from solids. The Sludge Caps Division, the company’s original focus, designs and installs Flintex™ high-strength woven geotextile cap reinforcement systems for contaminated lagoons, phosphate stacks, and industrial ponds.
Each division draws on the same core capability: designing, sourcing, and fabricating precision geosynthetic products built for extreme environments — and backing them with hands-on field support.
Founded on a Problem Worth Solving
Smallwood founded Flint Industries in 1995 with his brother Joe, initially focused on sludge capping for companies like FMC (fertilizers), Georgia Pacific (pulp and paper), and the U.S. Department of Energy. By 2004, they expanded into geotextile tube dewatering. Coastal tubes followed in 2007. In 2020, Flint Industries merged with its international sister company, FTG Group, to form Flint Technical Geosolutions.
Today FTG has active projects in more than a dozen countries, including Canada, Brazil, France, Mexico, Panama, South Africa, Morocco, the UAE, Peru, Nigeria, Cameroon, India, and Turkey. International sales now account for approximately 50% of total revenue.
Built in Metter, Shipped Through Savannah
Nearly everything FTG produces is fabricated at its facilities on East Lillian Street, then shipped globally through the Port of Savannah. FTG regularly brings specialists, distributors, and clients from Africa, Latin America, Canada, and Asia to Metter for training and product certification.
“We use Savannah as our draw to get people to come for training in our Georgia site,” Smallwood explains. “Metter being close to the port and airport in Savannah helps.”
Southern hospitality has become part of the FTG brand. Visitors are taken to local restaurants for home cooking, and many leave having also discovered Guido Gardens — a stop that has become a favorite among international guests.
A Team Built for the World
Vice President J. Kucera, a specialist in industrial fabrics, oversees international project execution. North American Manager K. Harper Johnson — a Metter High School and Georgia Southern University graduate — manages shipments across the US, Canada, and Mexico. The company’s Africa team, led by the Eastern Hemisphere Manager in Western Cape, South Africa, and the Africa Dewatering Manager in Gauteng, serves the continent’s fast-growing mining and wastewater markets. The West Africa Manager in Benin, Nigeria leads expansion across West Africa.
FTG also invests heavily in training, developing its own TITANTube® Engineer Tech Certification Program — the only formal certification program of its kind in the geosynthetic tube industry — with levels ranging from Basic (for reps and distributors) to Masters (for FTG design specialists).
