Back when he was a tower technician, Eric Buchholz, Owner and CEO of Cellular Composites, wasn’t a fan of working with shrouds. That was true until he started designing his own.
“The shrouds on the market weren’t designed right and something was always in the way,” Buchholz told Inside Towers. “My goal when I began designing shrouds was to make something that I had no problem putting on or taking off. I wanted to make the installers’ life easier while improving on the overall design and effectiveness of the shrouds.”
In 2020, Buchholz formed Cellular Composites in Phoenix to design and manufacture composite stealthing for cellular structures. Cellular Composites began making shrouds but it quickly expanded to provide concealment for antennas that are hung on walls. The company’s RF transparent walls are made out of fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP), which requires no hardware.
As a result, shrouds made by Buchholz, have become a favorite among the community of antenna installers in Arizona and surrounding states, he says, because they are lighter and easier to install.
“Eric is the most talented craftsman of anybody I’ve ever met in my life,” said Brian McAllister, who handles marketing for Cellular Composites. “He can build anything and everything that he builds is unbelievable in terms of quality.”
Cellular Composites does keep a line of stock shrouds. Some shrouds are designed to fit a specific antenna and others will fit different antennas from different manufacturers. Buchholz is proud that each one of the shrouds and concealment walls his company produces can be customized to fit the customer’s needs. If we don’t have it, just ask. We can build a custom mold and have a concealment shroud ready for production generally in under 10 days.
The Differentiators
What sets Cellular Composites apart, according to Buchholz, is its ability to customize everything from a shroud to a concealment wall. “We are willing to go the extra mile and make sure the customer is taken care of in the design of the product,” he said.
Cellular Composites also separates itself by providing a quick turnaround. Buchholz has found that some of the existing shroud manufacturers are often backordered. Antenna installation crews can’t get the shrouds they need to make their deadlines. “I don’t plan on ever having to go past a three-week lead time,” he said.
All products from Cellular Composites are finished in a gelcoat, which protects them from the weather, chipping, or fading. The color of the shroud can be matched as needed. For example, Buchholz painstakingly matched the color of the gelcoat of his shrouds to the color of the paint that the City of Phoenix uses on its light poles.
Cellular Composites in Action
In one case, a cellular carrier tried to install an antenna inside a church steeple, but the signal did not propagate properly. The decision was made to install the antennas on the side of the church steeple. Cellular Composites matched the color of the building and built an RF-transparent wall to hide the antennas.
In another instance, a concealment wall was designed by Buchholz and installed by a Tier 1 carrier at a J.W. Marriott in Paradise Valley, AZ in preparation for Super Bowl LVII in February. The same Tier 1 carrier has endorsed Cellular Composites to provide all the shrouds deployed in Arizona in the future.
“We went out and walked the site at the Marriott with the general contractor,” Buchholz said. “I built the wall to redline specs because the drawings they gave me were actually 14 inches short. We built the wall system and they did the installation on it.”
Conclusion
Buchholz runs Cellular Composites with a singular attention to detail. He has a kinship with the professionals in the wireless infrastructure industry. He designs and builds shrouds and concealment walls to please all of them, from the carriers to the general contractors to the antenna installers and maintenance technicians. “I don’t want someone out in the field not being a fan of my work product,” he said.
For more information, go to https://cellularcomposite.com/.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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