 
Santelli Tempered Glass Continues to Grow with
Third Location
July 9, 2010
While many companies in the glass and fenestration industries continue
to struggle, Santelli Tempered Glass in Monessen, Pa., a suburb
of Pittsburgh, seems to be an exception. The company, which fabricates
tempered glass for residential window manufacturers, met a number
of achievements over the past year and is continuing to grow. Last
fall the company was ranked by the Pittsburgh Business Times
number one in the manufacturing/transportation category on its
Pittsburgh 100 list (CLICK
HERE for related article and in January of this year opened
a second location in Ocala, Fla. (CLICK
HERE to read more). Now, the company is expanding further and
will be opening a third site in Elkhart, Ind. (CLICK
HERE to read more).
Joseph Santelli, the company's chief executive officer, says he
selected Elkhart, Ind., due to its location.
"It's perfectly located between Toledo and Chicago, both with
large residential window manufacturers," says Santelli. "The
area [Elkhart] has gone through a major downturn with the rise in
energy costs and the fall of the economy. That provided an abundance
of facilities that would work for my operation. I looked at more
than 30 great buildings from Toledo to South Bend, Ind., and the
one that stood out was in Elkhart.
Unlike so many other companies in the fenestration industry, Santelli's
business has continued to enjoy steady growth. Santelli says the
growth all goes back to automation and speed. He explains that the
concept he employs was developed by Lance Porter, owner of All Weather
Architectural.
"Before he came up with the idea of taking orders today, tempering
all night and delivering tempered glass tomorrow, deliveries sometimes
took two weeks to get to the window manufacturers. His philosophy
of not touching soft-coated or any glass until it was tempered allowed
us to give a finished product that was of better quality than the
market place had seen, and within 24 hours from placing the order
was much quicker than anyone was delivering," says Santelli.
He continues, "We now know that the production process Lance
developed results in the lowest labor cost per square foot of glass
tempered. When you can produce tempered glass at a lower price with
a better quality and deliver the glass overnight, customers want
your product." Santelli explains that it's the automation that
makes the process unique. "The glass is cut, laser logo'd,
seamed and batched for the tempering furnace without being touched
by anyone. The ability to supply tempered with this process has
made it possible to expand so rapidly. I am using that process in
all three locations."
Speaking of the company's locations, Santelli says he is excited
about the growth of his Florida operations as well.
"We just started tempering the first of June and all the equipment
has not arrived yet, but we have made sales calls to the area and
we are very excited about the opportunities in the Florida/Georgia
markets," he says. "We currently have ten employees in
Ocala and we will be hiring more through the end of the year. We
would like to have 25 by year end."
While having an efficient production process has been helpful,
Santelli is quick to point out that that's not the only reason his
company has been growing, pointing out that the current administration
has been a big driver for the residential window market.
"First there was an $8,000 tax credit for new home buyers
to help kick start new home construction and currently there is
a $1,500 tax credit for the replacement of existing windows, which
continues to help my market."
And as far as future expansions? Santelli does not rule anything
out and says if he ever does decide to do so in he will either expand
west or farther north.
Need more info and analysis about the issues?
CLICK
HERE to subscribe to USGlass magazine.
|