A few weeks ago, our marketing department (myself included) was working on a new print piece and wanted to add the year in which our company was established to it.  In so doing, a light went on and an idea was hatched; to utilize our blog to recount the history of Wind-lock®.  It would be fun for both customers and employees alike, to chronicle our company from start to present!

So, I decided to go straight to the source; the guy who has been with the company since 1992, had sold Wind-lock® products back when the business began, and has led our company for over a decade – Ron Chelli.

Ron educated me on how Wind-lock® has evolved over the years, from its incredibly humble beginnings, to developing into an extremely well-respected international supplier of a wide variety of building products.

Wind-lock® was founded in 1985 as a company centered on the Wind-Devil® fastener (our flagship EIFS product to this day is the Wind-Devil® 2, a younger, refined brother of the original).  Wind-Devils® are a revolutionary alternative to adhesive for mechanically attaching EPS insulation to a variety of substrates, including wood, lite metal, steel, and masonry.  They offer tremendous positive attachment and superior negative wind-load resistance, effectively locking the insulation in place; hence “Wind-lock.”

With EIFS still relatively youthful, Wind-lock® fast became the industry’s most reliable accessory company by the late 1980s.  In addition to the popular Wind-Devils®, a growing number of labor saving tools were discovered and/or developed to help make contractors more productive and profitable on the jobsite, as well as enhancing the aesthetics and workmanship of this ever-popular wall system.

Early on, sales were primarily found in the major metropolitan areas of the US and all shipments originated from our warehouse in the Philadelphia area. By the mid 1990s, however, we were shipping orders throughout virtually all of North America and to many countries abroad – word had definitely spread about Wind-lock®!

With this success came challenges.  So in the late 1990s, management recognized the strong necessity to diversify, while maintaining Wind-lock’s® roots within the EIFS industry.  After much due-diligence, Wind-lock® embarked on a rather aggressive program to promote its value as a one-stop-shop, with a large breadth of products to the ICF (insulated concrete forms) and SIP (structural insulated panels) industries. This led to both significant growth and the birth of our next major flagship product – Foam 2 Foam®.

The diversity strategy continued in earnest.  In 2001 we purchased an apparel (and promotions) company and immediately renamed it Black Lab Apparel® (in honor of Ron’s favorite breed of dog, the loyal and faithful Labrador Retriever).  Although seemingly a far stretch from construction, the need for apparel and promotions, within the industries we served, was significant in both their respective offices and jobsites alike.

As we continued to expand our product line, we took advantage of an opportunity to exclusively distribute glass fiber reinforced gypsum (GFRG) access panels.  And, what had begun as an accessory product soon became a steadily growing line.  Named Stealth in 2005 because of its virtual invisible appearance, the product continues to garner additional market share to this day.

Insulation and energy efficiency have always been in Wind-lock’s® DNA.  So it was with this in mind that, in 2005, we committed to stock only Dow® spray foam insulation and weatherization products.  By 2008 we had become Dow’s® largest RED DIAMOND distributor.  Today, it represents approximately 30% of our annual revenue and continues to realize tremendous growth each year.

Wind-lock® was extremely busy during the mid to late 2000s.  And by significantly improving service efficiencies, we were successful in enhancing our value to our customers throughout the US and abroad.  In addition to our early expansion of warehousing in the West, satellite locations were established in Jacksonville, Florida; Peoria, Illinois and Dallas, Texas, extending our strategic warehouse locations to five.  We are now proficiently fulfilling orders from multiple locations throughout the country, and staying true to our mantra of “What you need.  When you need it.”

2011 marked yet another milestone for Wind-lock®, as we leveraged our true strength, or core competency, to launch a full line of drywall tools in January.  We currently stock over 2,000 SKUs of drywall tools and accessories and have experienced the fastest rate of growth for any product line in the history of the company.

Wind-lock® has grown tremendously over the past twenty-six years.  What started as a small company offering one major product and a few hands full of tools, now offers over 4,000 SKUs, to a wide variety of customers; supporting a wide assortment of building types and industries. We yearn to always have fun and are dedicated to exceeding our customers’ expectations each and every time they need us!

Only one thing is certain here at Wind-lock®.  We will continue to evolve, search for and discover fresh opportunities and improvements to our customers’ overall experience.  And, we will always appreciate our roots and respect where we came from, but never stop trying to improve and get better at what we do.  It is within our core and it truly is who we are!

-Ryan

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