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HP:
Please give a detailed description of your company and its history.
Steve Buzzella: MetalTech, Inc. was
founded by R.W. Buzzella Sr. in 1957 as Fold-down Awnings, a retail awning
company. As years went by he added other hurricane shutter products. As
the demand for shutters softened, he focused more on patio enclosure products,
outdoor furniture, etc. By 1969, this new wide range of products called
for a new name, hence MetalTech, Inc.
In 1976 we started focusing on building our wholesale operation. By 1980
we had closed our retail operation and focused solely on supplying products
to other retailers throughout the state. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 shifted
our focus more on hurricane shutters and less on the patio products. We
really embarked on an effort to become more of a hurricane products company.
We eliminated some products and started widening our variety of
hurricane shutter products.
In 1993 R.W. Buzzella retired and four of his 10 sons carried on the family
business. Over the next six years the company outgrew its 50,000-square-foot
building. In 1999 the company split. Richard and I kept the building products
side of the business, MetalTech, and have since grown the business beyond
expectations.
Today with more than 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space, we are
the largest manufacturer of hurricane shutters in the country, and as
far as we know, the world.
HP: What hurricane protection products
do you handle today?
Buzzella: MetalTech currently has 36
hurricane shutter product approvals. And we’re working on more!
We manufacture four different accordion shutters, three different rollups,
seven different removable panel products—aluminum, steel and polycarbonate—three
different Bahama shutters and three different Colonial shutters. Our customers
have a choice.
We’re getting ready to bring our awning back to market, and we’re
in testing right now with a new Bahama and a Colonial shutter that’s
phenomenal.
HP: What is your approximate sales
volume?
Buzzella: We hope to hit $20 million
this year, and we’re well on our way.
The year 1999 had been the strongest for us in sales volume. The first
three quarters of 2000 were even better. The last quarter of 2000 everything
slowed down. In 2001 it was very depressed. We spent that year going to
auctions and buying equipment. The years 2002 and 2003 we grew more than
26 percent while others were going bankrupt. Last year was a record year.
HP: Who are your customers? What parts
of the country do you service?
Buzella: Our main focus is supplying
products to hurricane protection contractors in Florida, but we’re
all over the world. We’ve done shopping centers in Guam; we do a
couple of resorts a year in the Caribbean Islands.
We have a contracting subsidiary, Advance Hurricane Protection, that still
installs shutters in Dade and Broward counties, but we don’t go after
the retail so much. Last year we decided to quit selling to production
home builders. As far as manufacturing panels for the builder market,
we’re very strong in that segment, as strong as anybody out there.
HP: How many salespeople do you employ?
Buzzella: Our sales team consists of
four outside sales reps. One inside sales rep and our vice president,
director of business development Frank Storms.
HP: Is your business computerized? Do you
have a Web site and how is it used?
Buzzella: We have been computerized
since before the Windows operating system came out. Right now we’re
undergoing a software upgrade. We’re budgeting $130,000 for it.
Our new software will bring in bar coding. Orders being loaded on trucks
will be scanned ensuring nothing is left off. We’ll be bar coding
as we receive bundles of materials so that we can keep better inventory
control.
Our Web site has our product approvals. They can be viewed and downloaded
from the site. You can watch a 50 foot per second and an 80 foot per second
impact video done right here in our test facility.
You can download our order forms from our Web site. With our new software,
our dealers will be able to use their dealer code numbers and do their
own order entry right online. They’ll be able to track their orders
as well. We are taking a very aggressive approach to our software upgrade
to better serve our customers.
HP: What are some of the key factors
involved in your growth and success?
Buzzella: I’ve got to say it’s
the team of people that we have. We have a philosophy: Hire the best people,
make the best products, give the best value and service to your customers.
We have 150 employees. We have had a full-time engineer on staff for years
and have our own research and development test canon.
HP: What are your strengths in the marketplace?
Buzzella: Diversity of product and
diversity of markets that we’re in. We’re not just in the Florida
market. We’re not just in the new construction market. We’re
in all the different markets—you’ve got your high-rise market,
you’ve got your single-family home market, you’ve got your builder
market, consumer market, commercial market, resort market and the government
market.
Of course, size matters as well as reputation, resources—we’re
well funded and debt-free. That gives us the ability to do things that
are a little bit more aggressive.
Then you’ve got service. Service, service, service—we try to
drum that into our people. The product has to be clean, it has to be blemish-free,
we have to get it there on time, we have to keep a smile on our face even
when a customer is frustrated. We strive to keep our communication right
and our service right.
HP: What distinguishes you from
the competition?
Buzzella: For one, our brand name Maximum
Impact™. But also our hard earned reputation, knowledge of the industry
and diversification.
Take our HurcuLine Shutter, that handles an 80 foot per second impact,
protecting the FEMA headquarters in Miami. We did the National Hurricane
Center back in 1993. We are a Government Service Administration (GSA)
contract holder with the federal government.
Again, right now anybody can get business. But before last year where
was the business coming from? If you didn’t have a diversified product
offering you were limited, and if you were in only one or two segments
of the market you were limited. What we’ve always been able to do
is appeal to different markets because it’s always hot somewhere.
HP: What trends and cycles do you
see occurring in the industry? How is your business addressing them?
Buzzella: The shutter business gets
hot, more companies spring up. As the demand softens the weak companies
go out of business, the strong go to the auctions and buy up what’s
left. After the state-shaking hurricane season last year the hurricane
shutter business is going to be strong this year, and even if we don’t
get a hurricane this year it’s going to be strong next year.
I’ve grown up in the business. If you’re only in the Florida
market and Florida doesn’t get hit, you could be in trouble. Florida
didn’t get hit in 1994 through 1998. During all those years we were
busy in the Caribbean Islands and the Carolinas because they were getting
whacked every year. We can survive the slow periods. When it’s busy
we can handle volume. We manufacture better than 300 accordion shutters
a day.
HP: Where do you see yourself and
your company five years from now?
Buzzella: We’re going to continue
on the path that has served us well so far. We’re continually, non-stop,
designing, redesigning, retesting and re-engineering our products so that
they will perform better and better. We strive to deliver the best performing
products for the least cost to our customers.
As far as product innovation, I don’t believe there’s a company
that’s in our league for innovating things. We’re going to develop
products that perform a little better. Our new Bahama and Colonial shutters
are phenomenal.
HP: Are there any community projects you
are involved in?
Buzzella: We are in our sixth year as a corporate
sponsor for Habitat for Humanity. Everything they build in South Florida,
we supply the hurricane shutters for free. In addition, this year we’re
sponsoring the building of a house.
We are very proud to have Habitat for Humanity as our “white-hat”
cause. We would like to put a challenge out to our competitors in the
industry that they look for a “white hat” cause in their area
of the country and do the right thing. Give a little back.
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