Gerkin expands in South Sioux City

"We wanted to introduce the double-hung with (the single-hung), but there wasn't any space, so we had to wait until we got over here," company president Steve Schneider said during an interview in his office at Gerkin's new headquarters in South Sioux City's Westside Technical Business Park.

The new plant is 65 percent larger than Gerkin's former 100,000-square-foot plant at 815 F St. in South Sioux. The growing company had simply run out of room at the old site, where Gerkin had operated since 1991.

"We were totally tapped out. We didn't have any space" for expansion, Schneider said.

"We were really taxed not only in our manufacturing but our offices. We were in tough shape because we had people on top of people. It was just a matter of needing more space all the way around."

In addition to the new aluminum products, the new plant allowed the company to begin manufacturing two new vinyl windows - a slider and a single-hung model.

"That was some of the first equipment in the door here," Schneider said. "As soon as the plant was ready to receive it, we brought in the machinery to make those two new windows."

The move to the new plant is the latest in a series of expansions for Gerkin since Schneider, his brother Paul and their father, Otto, acquired the company in 1991. They were joined by John Jones, a longtime family friend and business partner who today is head of manufacturing. Otto and Paul Schneider, who live in Arizona, retain ownership interests, but are not involved in day-to-day management.

Virgil Gerkin founded the company in 1932 in Sioux City. Gerkin and his sons ran the business until 1985, when it was sold to Sioux City-based Midwest Energy, a predecessor to MidAmerican Energy Co.

"Had we not bought the company, Midwest Energy would have closed it down because it was doing poorly," Schneider said. "The company was in pretty tough shape so we had to put it back together. There were a lot of things that needed to be changed and rearranged."

Cramped for space at Gerkin's longtime home on Tri-View Avenue in Sioux City, the new owners in March 1991 moved the business across the Missouri River to the F Street location.

At the time, Gerkin was making just two styles of storm windows and doors, relying on outdated 1960s-era technology, Schneider said. "The market had passed by them," he said. "The first thing we had to do was come out with a new line of aluminum thermally broken windows."

Those windows, marketed under the Rhino brand name, have become a company trademark. Gerkin now offers a line of eight Rhino aluminum windows primarily for commercial use, for buildings such as offices, schools, hospitals and churches.

In 1993, the company introduced a line of vinyl windows and patio doors under the Comfort Series name for residential and light commercial use. Counting the two recent additions, the number of vinyl window options has grown to eight.

Gerkin also manufactures more than a dozen aluminum storm doors.

With the new plant, the company will have room to design and manufacture additional new products, Schneider said.

"The lifeblood of the manufacturing business is new products and rejuvenated products," he said. "You can't stay status quo in this business or you'll get eaten alive. We're continually upgrading our present products and changing our lines as we find new ways to improve them."

Fivefold growth

With total employment growing from 47 to more than 140, the company is five times larger than when the Schneiders purchased it in 1991. Gerkin now markets its windows and doors in 46 states and two foreign countries, up from just a dozen states in the early 1990s.

"There haven't been any big huge spikes, it's just been a steady progression of growth," Schneider said.

A construction boom, fueled by low interest rates and a strong economy in the 1990s and early this decade, has contributed to the company's increased sales of windows and doors.

"Everything's been in our favor, to our advantage," Schneider said. "We really haven't had a market decline since 1991. There's been a progression of new construction growth and also of replacement growth ever since then."

More importantly, Gerkin's success in a highly competitive industry can be attributed to the quality and reliability of its products. "We try to manufacture the highest quality products that we can and then try to keep the price as medium as possible," Schneider said. "Basically, what we're doing is selling value to the consumer."

Four factory sales representatives and more than 35 manufacturers reps market the products around the country. The team is headed by vice president of sales Scott Gerkin, a grandson of the founder who stayed on with the company through its two sales.

South Sioux finds site

Gerkin's new headquarters features a large showroom where contractors, distributors and other customers will get a first-hand look at the company's array of products.

After exploring some other sites in the tri-state area, Gerkin decided to stay in South Sioux City and Nebraska, which offers some tax incentives not available in neighboring states. Schneider credited local officials for going the extra mile to retain the company and its jobs.

"They worked very hard to make sure they found a space that had what we needed," Schneider said. "They jumped through a lot of hoops and bent over backwards to help us get this whole thing taken care of."

The city rezoned the land in the newly developed Westside Business Park, and helped settle a dispute with the U.S. Corps of Engineers, which initially objected to the company building near a small wetlands.

Located a short jaunt from the U.S. Highway 77 bypass and Interstate 29, the new plant is ideally situated for a company that handles about half of its own shipping.

Gerkin, in fact, physically moved itself from the old F Street to the new plant, with employees completing the work over a six-week period, Jones said.

The spacious new plant offers storage for both raw and finished goods. Various manufacturing lines are spread around the floor. Insulated glass is produced in an enclosed room, which provides a separate atmosphere required for quality control. Only a handful of plants nationwide make the specialty glass, Schneider said.

At its new site, Gerkin has extra land where the size of the plant eventually could be doubled, to 320,000 square feet. The company has not projected a specific number of new jobs as a result of future expansion, but Schneider anticipates the growth rate to continue on much the same track as it has the last 13 years.

To remain competitive in the industry, the plant likely will become more automated in the future. But making windows, particularly the final stages of production, likely will continue to require a great deal of hand labor, Schneider said.

"We're going to have to buy more machinery, more automation, but we're still going to be hiring more people, providing the growth curve stays the same," he said.

Dave Dreeszen may be reached at 293-4211 or davedreeszen@siouxcityjournal.com