By Jamie Swedberg, Industrial Fabric Products Review

On the edge of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base lies a bustling industrial park.

This August morning, the sun is shining, and the quiet is occasionally punctuated by the zoom of aircraft. Tom Fridley, MFC, vice president of sales at Glawe Awning and Tent Co., Fairborn, Ohio, is standing on his business' front lawn and pointing toward the military complex to his west.

Of course, Glawe didn't just get the contract because of its convenient location. Founded in 1877, the company has a long history of manufacturing high-quality awnings and tents for all sorts of applications - even for the aeronautics industry. Fridley proudly reflects,

"Back in 1903, when the Wright brothers went to Kitty Hawk, they actually purchased a tent from us. They took it with them, and that's what they slept in while they were there." Even now, the company remains embedded in the world of airplanes. Its solution to a dearth of warehouse space would cause most canvas-shop owners to salivate: Glawe is permitted to store its bulkiest tent-rental equipment, such as carpets and light rigs, in an airplane hangar.

There's a skill in finding the perfect site and using it to its fullest. The company's first shop, back in the 19th century, was located at the crossroads of what are now Interstates 75 and 70, giving Glawe access to traffic from every point of the compass.

Three shops later, the firm is perched on the beltway that surrounds Dayton and its suburbs. According to Fridley, customers on all sides of town have easy access to the shop and its showroom. Dayton itself is practically an ideal market. Fridley reckons he has one worrisome competitor in the awning business, and only about three tent companies that compete with him for bids.

"I probably have about 30 or 40 contractors that I do work for exclusively," he says. "I won't say that they never go out for other bids, but if a project calls for an awning, they will automatically call me.

They use our figure for their bid, so if they get the job, I get the job." Still, from a historic perspective, none of Glawe's clients are shoo-ins. "Twenty years ago, a person would call you up and you'd do the business without any thought," Fridley muses. "Today there is a lot more competitive bidding."

A family affair

On this particular day, there's a tray of brownies on the breakroom table at Glawe Awning and Tent Co.

It has been a long road, but not an unlikely one. Fridley joined Glawe in 1975. His father-in-law, onetime IFAI board president Vern Schaefer, MFC, was a shareholder in the company, and asked him to join Glawe when brother Paul Schaefer moved to Phoenix to purchase Apache Awning Co.

Fridley, who had been working at a local Ford Motor Co. plant, took the Glawe job so he could work outside. "I basically started from the ground floor," he says. "I installed from 1975 until about 1980. By then I was doing part-time sales and part-time installing. Then I went to full-time sales in about 1980 to 1982."

Nowadays, Vern Schaefer is moving toward retirement, and Fridley is contemplating his new role. "I still sell quite a bit commercially, but I'm trying to get away from it," he says. "I will probably still take care of our major accounts for a while.

The contractors have grown accustomed to me and I've grown accustomed to them. I'll wean myself away from them slowly when I can find someone else here that they will be comfortable with."

He adds that his mentor still comes in every day, but Schaefer's time as chief executive officer is drawing to an end. That means more indoor responsibility for Fridley. "I really enjoy being out, and it will be an adjustment," he says. "But it is really better for the company that I spend a lot more time inside."

Glawe will be no less a family-run business when Schaefer retires. Fridley's sister-in-law, Kathy Schaefer, is vice president of administration for the firm.

She manages tent rental affairs, while Fridley concentrates on awnings; each comprises about half of the company's business. Between its two halves, Glawe employs 25 to 27 full-time employees, plus seasonal temporary help. This represents a sustainable, steady rate of growth; 10 years ago, the company boasted only 15 workers.

The balancing act

Some tent and awning businesses sew all their awnings and purchase their rental tents from other firms, but at Glawe, the balance is a little bit different.

First of all, the company's seven sewers and cutters manufacture 85 to 90 percent of its tentage. And second, Glawe's awning business is strongly focused on the residential retractable-awning market.

The upshot? A sizable chunk of the company's sales is pure retail. "We buy our retractables ready-made and install them for people," Fridley says. "That leaves our sewing room more open. We used to make them ourselves, then we cut back to making only the frames. Eventually we found out you can get the whole thing ready-made, and it's a very high-quality product."

Just as well, since the seamstresses are busy. Not only do they turn out tent panel after tent panel, but they're also responsible for producing commercial awnings for several ongoing accounts. "We do all the work for Ponderosa Steak House, for example," Fridley says.

"But we don't want to depend too much on these contracts. We feel that although commercial awnings have had a place in the market for a long time, that is going to peak at some time. So residential awnings are something we always want to focus on."

In another cavernous room in the 18,500-foot facility, the welders are busy too. They build custom frames for residential and commercial awnings and canopies. The shop specializes in staple-in systems, quickly assembling them, then hurrying them into a herd of pickups and Penske trucks that wait at the door.

Other companies may balance their workloads with year-round commercial awning work, but Fridley takes a different tack. He insists that residential awnings keep the company on a fairly even keel.

"Being northern, sure, it's strongly seasonal," he says. "But we go out and take them down in the fall and put them up in the spring. We store them over the winter, and that extends our season quite a bit. What gives us even more work during that time period is making new awnings for the spring."

Fridley says most of Glawe¥s clients are local, but tent rental has broadened the company's geographic horizons. About 15 years ago, it purchased one of the first clearspan tents in the United States.

Of the structure, he says, "You can't make any money with that if you're planning on people just here in Dayton renting it. So we take it to Indiana and Kentucky. It was at the PGA Golf Tournament in Florida. It was even at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. It goes wherever we can rent it."

Over time, Glawe has targeted its efforts at a few select markets. Thanks to a carefully maintained word-of-mouth reputation, the majority of its tents are rented for large corporate and special events.

Only about 10 to 15 percent of rentals are for weddings and parties. And even less are for fairs; according to Fridley, the fair and festival market has become extremely cutthroat and subject to underbidding.

Marketing little-known retractable awnings was a challenge until the firm began using television ads in 1999. Fridley was surprised at the boost the new medium provided.

"We didn't realize what we were missing," he says. "Retractables are fairly new in this country, and the television ads gave people the realization that there are products out there that meet their needs.

I think even now, we're just on the tip of brand recognition." He notes that because of the ads, Glawe experienced an awning boom in 1999, and expects to continue its success in 2000.

The joy of awnings

Leaning back on the heels of his chair, Fridley says the best part of his job is the ability to be creative and to meet with the public. "I do most of the design work around here," he says. "Everything we do is custom, so we get to create."

Of course, many clients demand strict parameters or offer minimal budgets. But sometimes there's plenty of freedom to be creative. "That's when its most fun," he says, grinning.

Fridley says his greatest difficulty is finding enough time for all his labors. "I spread myself too thin and get more involved than I should be," he laments. "I do head out at about 5:00 every day.

Free time or no, Glawe offers Fridley a surplus of satisfaction, and a constant challenge.

Positioned at the crossroads of the nation, it's his job to make sure the company remains front-and-center for its customers. "We are always innovative," he says. "It seems that there is always something coming along that is bigger and better. But we also don't want to lose what has made us successful."

Reprinted from the December 1999 issue of the Industrial Fabric Products Review, with permission from the Industrial Fabrics Association International.By Jamie Swedberg