Storm-Tite
Storm-Tite
Storm-Tite, Inc. was originally established in 1965 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to produce aluminum storm windows and doors. But in 1977 the Canadian company expanded to produce windows for vehicles, and found success producing specialty windows for RVs and other recreational vehicles.
This shift from window and doors to new specialty windows, brought Storm-Tite from a regional producer to one shipping to international markets. In 1987, Storm-Tite had taken the "next logical step" and developed a line of windows for modern transit buses, which would be used in major cities across North America.
"We think it's a natural progression for our comopany to expand into the United States," [Vice President, Dieter] Koberstein said. He explained that the move will cut shipping costs and save on U.S. import duties.
-June 1990 edition of Economic Developments (published by MCDEVCO)
Although they saw that new free-trade agreements were on the horizon (the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect in 1994), Storm-Tite decided not to wait a few years for import duties to be eliminated. So they looked to find a good place in the United States to set up a factory, and ultimately settled on Mosinee.
Storm-Tite in Mosinee
There were a few reasons Storm-Tite chose Mosinee for the location of their first U.S. facilities. Central Wisconsin had a reputation for its involvement in the window business, and although there had not yet been a window manufacturer in Mosinee itself, there was a large workforce in the region to draw from to staff the new factory. And as companies had shifted from using railroads to trucks to transport raw materials and finished goods, Mosinee became an attractive place to situate a window factory.
The Wausau-based, Anogee was also actively working to convince Storm-Tite to move to Marathon County. Anogee (an Apogee company) specialized in processing for aluminum, and was set up to provide the special anodizing process, Anolok, for Storm-Tites bus windows. As Storm-Tite would be an important customer for Anogee, they spent nearly a year in spirited negotiations to convince them to move to Central Wisconsin.
And the effort paid off. In November of 1989, the Marathon County Economic Development Council (MCDevCo) was contacted to help find Storm-Tite a suitable space and help find employee training assistance. Mosinee Properties, a business incubator in Mosinee, provided space for the new factory--in the former home of Schuld Manufacturing factory. And Northcentral Technical College helped training new employees and to coordinate the hiring for Storm-Tite.
To the Central Wisconsin Business Park
Over the first five years or so, Storm-Tite's Mosinee factory went from 12 to about 35 employees, but future growth was somewhat limited by the space. And so Storm-Tite worked with the city of Mosinee to find space in their new industrial park.
^ Storm-Tite facility in the Central Wisconsin Business Park, opened in 1998
The Central Wisconsin Business Park had been created in 1987. Storm-Tite purchased a little more than 4 acres in early 1997, and moved into the new space by the end of the year.
AROW Global
In 2006, the company underwent some changes, Storm-Tite was briefly merged with two boat-building companies. But soon thereafter, it split from its former Canadian owners and relocated to Mosinee, where it adopted the new name AROW Global.
Since becoming AROW Global, the production of transit windows has continued from Mosinee. In 2014, Vice President and G.M. Scott Firer stated that over 8 years the company grew 300%, necessitating a new 22,000 square foot facility.