| | "When I went to college in '72, there was a press brake in my basement and a shear in my parents' garage," owner Keith Lyons said. "We used to spray paint parts on sawhorses in the back yard." The company now fabricates 20,000 stainless steel refrigerator doors every week for well-known companies such as Whirlpool and General Electric and employs more than 300 people. It also manufactures stainless panels for icemakers, dishwashers, disposals, ovens, compactors, wine coolers, and ice dispensers, as well as cashier station cabinets for the retail industry. Lyons credits the dynamic expansion of his business largely to the company's use of folding technology, which he said enabled him to meet the production and quality demands of his growing customer needs. In 1998 the company made its first stainless steel refrigerator for GE. "They [GE] had seen a stainless steel model used in a European tradeshow. They said, 'That could be big in the United States.' They wanted to come up with a stainless model, but they didn't want to invest in tooling for an entire stainless refrigerator, so the best idea was to 'skin one,'" Lyons said. So the original sides, top, and doors of the existing black refrigerator were covered with stainless steel skins. "And they said, 'Well, that's pretty cool. We might sell 20 or 30 a month, maybe,'" Lyons said. "That model--we do about 600 a month. Then they said, "Well, that's really a great thing; let's offer a stainless door option on every refrigerator we make.'" | |
