Stergis Windows Bucks the Trend with Expansion [VIDEO]

Stergis Windows has been able to buck the trend of manufacturing businesses across the nation that are announcing layoffs, cutting back on investments and trying to stay afloat by taking risks to expand the business. 

It has been seven months since second-generation owner Gus Stergis moved his 58 employees from a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Walpole, MA, to one three times its size on Walton Street in Attleboro. 

Stergis said he had no other choice. The company, which manufactures windows for the U.S. Department of Defense, commercial customers and residential customers, was experiencing continuous growth and was busting at the seams of its building in Walpole.

After more than a year of searching for the perfect location in which to expand, Stergis took a leap and purchased a 130,000-square-foot abandoned building in Attleboro. The company also has a smaller facility in South Carolina.

The more than $3 million investment into the Attleboro facility enabled the company to increase its inventory space by four times and turn on three more fabrication lines. With three times the space of its former location, Stergis was also able to create a test lab where the blast-resistant glass it manufactures could be tested in-house. 

Since moving into the new digs, the company has hired an additional 12 employees and plans to add another five employees this fall. 

"They are saying manufacturing is dead, but with Stergis we expect 108 jobs and a $3 million investment in this economy," said Attleboro Director of Planning Gary Ayrassian. "The City of Attleboro is very fortunate that Stergis picked Attleboro, because they took over an abandoned building which was a contaminated site and paid $179,000 in back taxes."

How has the company been able to buck the trend of other manufacturers in Massachusetts and across the nation that are cutting back on investment, cutting jobs and trying to stay afloat?

Not putting all of his windows in one market is one way.

The company recently completed a $5 million contract to design, build and install blast-resistant windows for 14, five-story buildings at the U.S. Marine Corps' military base at Camp Lejune. 

Having the U.S.Department of Defense as a customer is nice, according to Stergis, but the company cannot rely on those contracts to grow the business because they could disappear in a day. 

"It's great, but you can't rely on any one thing anymore," he said. 

That is why Stergis also manufactures and sells to commercial and residential customers too and just recently closed a deal with Victoria Mills in New Bedford. 

Keeping a close eye on the market has also helped Stergis make wise business decisions. The company looks three months ahead at the military market, six months at the residential market and one year at the historic/commercial market. 

Making smart business decisions even when it means turning down a new customer or hiring at a slower rate is important, according to Stergis. 

"We get teased sometimes by competitors because we've had to say no to low-margin, big customers," he said. "And, we are not hiring fast because the consumer confidence as we see it isn't there yet. Everyone is gun shy.

"I need 20 more people right now, but I will hire 10 and then watch the market for two months."