Quaker Window Products Co. shareholders Judy Knoll Stone, Pam Knoll, Ken Knoll and Lottie Kaesik Knoll met last week with long-time employee, Kevin Blansett, second from right, who was recently appoited general manager and executive vice-president of the company. Blansett will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company while Ken Knoll was elected to the position of president of the company.
For the Knoll family, Quaker Windows & Doors is not just a business; it is a passion, a culture and most importantly a vision for the future that is the Quaker Window community.
As President Kenneth Knoll, the second son of Bud and Marge Knoll - the co-founders of Quaker Windows & Doors, to take a leadership role in the business said this past Wednesday, "This is not just our family, this is our home and our community and we are here to stay. We're not going anywhere," We are planning to grow and invest in our people, as well as the business. We hope to continue to serve the community and the surrounding areas for generations to come."
That sentiment was resoundingly seconded by fellow family board members Judy Knoll Stone, Lottie Knoll Kaesik and Pam Knoll in an interview last week. Each of the four holds equal shares of stock in the family business. The fifth shareholder, Marge Knoll, passed away two weeks ago and gifted her shares of stock back to the business. The knoll family intends to continue building and expanding Quaker and looks forward to a third generation of the family to continue the legacy of growth and success started by Bud and Marge Knoll over sixty years ago.
Ken Knoll said, Quaker is not only his future and that of his children's, but also the future of so many dedicated employees and their families. He said the company would remain in this community and in the hands of the Knoll family for years to come. "I want this company to be able to give people in this area not only a job, but also pride in the products we manufacture," he said.
Pam Knoll, the widow of former Quaekr general manager Mike Knoll, agreed. "It was Mike's dream that the company go on. He loved this company and put his heart and sould into it," she said, nothing that Mike never worked anywhere else. "He came here right out of school."
Judy Knoll Stone, who lives with her family in Connecticut, said she remembers when her brother, Mike Knoll, started work at Quaker as a teenager. She said he gave his first paycheck, a total of $56 for two weeks of work, to her for a wedding shower present. She said he just laid the check in front of her and said, "Here. It is that generosity that is one of the cornerstones of the Quaker organization.
Realizing that the plant was expanding and growing rapidly, the Knoll family put together a management team in 2004 that would effectively lead Quaker as it evolved and adapted to an ever changing market, while still maintaining the core values and vision that has always been the cornerstone of the Knoll family ownership.
Kevin Blansett, who has been with the company for almost 20 years, as well as Curtis Weavers, Tom Stegeman and Chris Dickneite have all stepped into leadership positions within the organization.
Blansett, who worked closely with Mike Knoll right up until his untimely passing this past December, was selected by ownership to take over as General Manager and Executive Vice President of Quaker. Working closely with the family, Mr. Blansett is now responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the company. He is supported by a seasoned management team with Weavers heading up the engineering, Stegeman leading manufacturing operations and Dickneite guiding sales.
Quaekr, even though it has grown tremendously since its inception in 1949 as the Quaker Venetian Blind Co., has always been a family business. Most of the nine Knoll children had window and door products named after them.
Ken Knoll's son, Eric, works in purchasing and has worked for the business for 4 years. Two of Kaesik's sons, Jonathan and Michael, also work in the business. John has worked at Quaker for 12 years and works on the service crew while brother, Michael, who has worked there for nearly 3 years, works in sales.
Ken Knoll says he remembers counting screws for the business at eight years of age. "I had to put 12 screws in each bag and I made 50 cents a day. That probably violated some type of child labor laws even at that time," he quipped. Knoll said after he finished high school he joined the Air Force. After completing his term of duty he had a job lined up at TWA. "But Dad said I needed to come to work here. He said I might be running this place some day. So, I came here. I never asked about my wages and they paid me less than the Air Force paid me, much less what TWA would have paid me. So I brought that to his attention one day and I got a raise. He matched what the Air Force paid me," Knoll chuckled.
Knoll said he and brother Mike started their careers at Quaker working in the basement making cultured marble. "Vanity tops, window sills, stuff like that." Then he said he was moved to the storm window room and later became foreman there. Later, he said, he was moved to the office to replace a long-time employee who was retiring.
Ken Knoll said his Mom, Marge Knoll, oversaw the company's purchasing of materials. "At one time she actually set the value of glass. She set the price for the entire industry for glass. She told the glass companies what they could sell the glass to her for and that was it. And everyone else in the industry set the price they would pay according to what Marge Knoll was paying."
Knoll said at one time Quaker was the largest window manufacturer west of the Mississippi. "More of them have built up, but Quaker is still one of the top 100 window manufacturers in the country," he said, hinting that further expansion might be in the cards for the company.
Blansett added there were 1,600 window companies in the country a couple of years ago. "Now that number is less than 900 and this offers even more opportunity for growth and expansion. We are always strategically evaluating how to best position Quaker to meet demand and future growth opportunities. Quaker is well positioned with its vinyl, wood and aluminum product lines to become a major player in the window and door market," he said.
Blansett noted the company employed 520 people and at the present time had just less than 1 million square feet, or 22 acres, under roof.
The new general manager of Quaker said the company has had record sales in seven of the last eight months and has a backlog of 12,000 windows and doors. He said the backlog this year is 50 percent higher than it was last year at this time.
"Quaker, unlike many companies positioned itself to weather the downturn in the economy back in 2007. We didn't cut any benefits. We didn't compromise our tenured long-termed employees. We didn't hire school kids one summer, but we're positioned now to bring in those school kids for this summer as we've done in the past. The great thing is that we've been able to support the community and our employees even during the economic downturn," Blansett said.
Pam Knoll, who inherited her husband's shares, said she would like to see Quaker be a national name. "It's out there, but I think it can be bigger and better. I think that's the goal. That's what Mike always wanted," she said.
Blansett agreed that was, in fact, Mike Knoll's vision. "He always said, ' We grow or we die.' It's that constant improvement that we're always after," he said. "We're always looking for ways to innovate and improve our systems, while adding more product lines to meet customer needs. We are fast approaching a point where we are going to need more space to meet demand and our overall growth plans. We've done some reorganization and building the last new powder paint building freed up about 45,000 square feet. But, we're still expanding into new product areas and are looking at another facility in the future. We would be considering expansion because of the growth in the company," he said.
Blansett said the Knoll family was very conscious of the community and both Stone and Kaesik said the company has always looked to give back to the community that has supported their family for so many years. Kaesik cited the company's effort to help various local organizations, schools and churches while Stone said she thought the scholarship fund set up by the company to help employees' children was a wonderful thing. "I expect that fund will continue to grow and will help even more children," she said. Pam Knoll, who inherited her share upon the death of her husband in December,2012, said she intends to leave those shares to her son, Alex. "It will stay in the family," she said.
Used with the permission of Jerry Voss at the Unterrified Democrat.
