Company pivots to ‘protect the people, save the millwork’

Like many small business owners, when COVID-19 hit Tom Frank started wondering about cash flow, customers, production schedules, employees, his family and even whether to call his attorney or accountant first. Then the worries gave way to opportunities.

Frank is the president of Ohio Woodworking Co. in Norwood. Frank and brother-in-law Rich Grumbley are the third generation to operate the company that Frank’s grandfather started.

“The outpouring of goodwill and cooperation by so many to help the frontline health care workers was inspiring,” Frank said. “And it was there that we sought opportunity.”

Ohio Woodworking found simple plans online to manufacture face shields. But it soon encountered problems and had to find something else to make. With routine visits to purchase toilet paper, N95 masks and hand sanitizer, Frank and Grumbley noticed acrylic barriers that hardware stores, grocery stores, and other essential businesses were erecting. But there was a problem with what they saw.

“When one spends their working life making laminate countertops, checkouts and teller lines look as pretty, flawless and as functional as possible, it is like a knife through the heart to see a screw driven into that laminate, knowing there is no easy fix should that acrylic barrier ever come down,” Frank said.

Ohio Woodworking began to formulate a plan to make an acrylic barrier that would leave no permanent mark and function as well or better than any they had seen. It visited a Kemba Credit Union branch and produced a prototype. As authorities started discussing allowing businesses to re-open, Ohio Woodworking suddenly had the potential for new business. The company’s mantra became: “Protect the people, save the millwork!”

The company installed customized acrylic barriers for all of the credit union’s branches. Frank said other customers started looking for the non-permanent barrier solution.

“Hair salons, dentists, movie theaters, psychologists and restaurants all needed a customized solution to their COVID-19 problem,” he said. “They had spent good money buying fixtures and did not want to see them ruined, only to have to spend more money on a fix, or worse, all new fixtures.”

Ohio Woodworking then had to face an acrylic shortage. Frank said it scoured plastic supply houses, cobbling together sheets of varying sizes to fill every order the company received.

Frank said his fellow small business owners during this time should realize there are always options for them and “to rely on those you know and who know you” for solutions.

“For 90 years, our family business has survived and thrived because of the love of family, the friendship and trust of customers and vendors, ingenuity from the office to the manufacturing floor, [and from] experience, failure and wisdom,” Frank said. “We are fortunate and grateful we were able to stay open during COVID-19.”

Featured image at top: Tom Frank, president of Ohio Woodworking, cultivates an innovation mindset in his third generation family business.

Ohio Woodworking is a Goering Center core member, and the Goering Center is sharing this content as part of its Business Courier supplement for the 2020 Family & Private Business Awards. View more of the digital supplement here.