Ten Years Ago: First DASMA Meeting Convenes

© 2005 Door & Access Systems
Publish Date: Winter 2005
Author: Tom Wadsworth
Page 68

Ten Years Ago

First DASMA Meeting Convenes

From Jan. 17-20, 1996, the inaugural meeting of DASMA was held at the Registry Resort in Naples, Fla. The meeting marked the Jan. 1, 1996, merger of the National Association of Garage Door Manufacturers (NAGDM) and the Door Operator and Remote Controls Manufacturers Association (DORCMA). Joe Kee, president of General American Door, was elected as DASMA’s first president. The new manufacturer organization had 86 companies in its active and associate divisions.

Update: Joe Kee ended up serving twice as DASMA president. In 2004, the association added a new division for high-performance doors. DASMA now has 104 member companies, an all-time high.

Caption:
FOUNDING FATHERS: (From left) John Mullen, Genie; John Addington, executive director of NAGDM and DORCMA; Carl Pfirrmann, Art Stamping; Jim Dreyer, Pre Finish Metals; Joe Kee, Gadco; Ray Neisewander Jr., Raynor; Bill Sachs, Clopay; Howard Burns, Windsor Door; John Moravec, Chamberlain; Geoff Foreman, Wayne-Dalton; Tim Halopoff, Holmes-Hally; Betsy Perdue, legal counsel; Bearge Miller, Miller Edge; Dennis Kildare, Interstate Steel; Bill Wahler, R&K Mockler.

Nofziger Family Purchases Haas Doors

At the end of 1995, Ed and Carol Nofziger completed the purchase of Haas Door in Perrysburg, Ohio, from MascoTech. The purchase was a rare example of a garage door dealer (Nofziger Door Sales of Archbold and Plain City, Ohio) purchasing a manufacturer. The Nofzigers acquired a 175,000-sq.-ft. facility in Wauseon, Ohio, and soon moved all manufacturing activities to this location.

Update: Ed Nofziger says Haas Door has extensively upgraded its equipment and expanded production facilities, and a new production line will be ready to ship product in the spring of 2006. In November 2005, the company held a 10-year anniversary celebration with its employees.

Garage Door Business Publishes Final Issue

The final issue of Garage Door Business was its winter 1995-1996 issue (see photo), mailed in January 1996. Since its inaugural issue in 1991, the magazine had been published by the National Association of Garage Door Manufacturers (NAGDM). With the merger of NAGDM and DORCMA into DASMA (see above), the magazine changed its name to Door & Access Systems in 1996 and broadened its product focus to include operators and rolling steel doors. The winter 1995 issue had 48 pages and a circulation of 7,500.

Update: Door & Access Systems now has a circulation of 19,800 (approximately 18,000 are dealers), and each issue generally has 80 pages.

Clopay Acquires Atlas and Roll-lite

At the end of 1995, Masco Corporation sold Atlas and Roll-lite Door of Orlando, Fla., to Clopay Building Products. Atlas was a manufacturer of rolling steel doors, grilles, counter shutters, and commercial operators, while Roll-lite made sectional garage doors and self-storage doors and components. The acquisition was said to add about $60 million in annual sales to Clopay.

Update: In 1999, US Door of Orlando acquired the Roll-lite self-storage business from Clopay. In 2002, Clopay sold the assets of Atlas commercial door operators to The Chamberlain Group, and the assets of the Atlas door operations to Cornell Iron Works. The Roll-lite sectional door business was absorbed into Clopay’s Ideal Door business.