Scholarship fund marks milestone
After more than 25 years in business, the four former partners of a Calgary-based manufacturer of windows and doors have officially retired.
A reception was recently held to bid farewell to Dennis Zentner, Dave Munro, Scott Keelan, and Harvey Dunand, who took over Gienow Windows and Doors in 1983.
They built up the manufacturing plant to become a leader worldwide, expanding to four companies under the Gienow Group.
The four had a lasting impact on the residential construction industry that will continue, says Richard Boyer, who took over as president of Gienow in 2006.
“All of these fine gentlemen have had a lasting effect on our business and our industry,” he said at the farewell celebration at the Newport Grill on Lake Bonavista.
“To recognize this special achievement and create a lasting legacy, I am pleased, on behalf of the Gienow Group, to announce that we have created a $100,000 endowment to fund an annual undergraduate scholarship in the department of manufacturing engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary.”
The Gienow Group is funding 50 per cent of the endowment, while the provincial government will match the contribution through its Access to the Future Fund, he said.
Ron Hugo, associate professor and head of U of C’s department of mechanical and manufacturing engineering, was on hand to receive the endowment.
The scholarship notes that the four former partners “demonstrated leadership and ingenuity in the use of research and technology in advanced manufacturing to enhance the business enterprise.”
Munro, Zentner, Dunand and Keelan took over the company that was started in 1947 by home builder Bernard “Tiny” Gienow, who wanted quality windows in his own homes.
By the time the four partners took over in 1983, the company had expanded to include a plant in the northeast and was shipping products indirectly through an affiliation with the industrial trailer sector.
But it was the influence of the four that brought Gienow to the attention of the world.
“Gienow did not grow by accident,” says Boyer, noting the group’s strengths were seen in leadership, innovation and learning.
In 1985, management introduced the “just-in-time” manufacturing philosophy to Gienow — a new Japanese concept of only producing the necessary items when they are needed, rather than having a large inventory.
That philosophy has been known to improve product quality and work performance, increasing productivity and saving costs.
“They studied it and implemented it with overwhelming results,” says Boyer. “They were pioneers at the time — copied by many today.”
That led to many other new philosophies, including a commitment to “continuously learn and apply innovative and leading-edge techniques,” for both themselves and their employees, says Boyer.
Through the years, Gienow continued to expand, growing from 37 employees when the four partners took over to more than 800 today — and the current workforce includes 18 of the original 37.
The company expanded to a brand-new, 350,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in southeast Calgary in 1999.
It has become an international competitor, shipping to countries worldwide, including Russia, South Korea, Chile and Japan.
The company was named Supplier of the Year by both the Calgary and Edmonton regions of the Canadian Home Builders’ Associations — an award that’s chosen directly by builders themselves — nine times.
In 2001, Window and Door Magazine named Gienow the most innovative manufacturing plant in North America, while in 2002, it was awarded best of show Solution Award from the Canadian Information Productivity Awards.
In 2007, it became Energy Star Manufacturer of the Year.
Munro retired officially last May, and the company moved in October from an income fund to private ownership. H.I.G. Capital, LLC, bought the four companies under the Gienow Group — Gienow Windows and Doors, which is the largest, Award Windows and Doors, Architectural Windows and Doors, and Farley Windows and Doors.
Under the sale agreement, the four partners were asked to stay on for a further six months, a period that officially ended last month.
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