The company was founded in 1939 by the Cole family with sales and production focused largely on the fenestration industry. Manufacturing was originally located on Long Island. Production was expanded with the addition of a new plant in Mt. Pleasant, TN (south of Nashville) in 1994. The Long Island location relocated to Bethlehem, PA in 1997. Further expansion to better serve the west coast was completed in 2001 in Milwaukie, OR (south of Portland). Since the inception of Hygrade Metal Moulding, a number of product profiles have been introduced, from aluminum spacer in the 1950’s, to steel stiffeners, patio doors, screen frame and corner keys, vineyard posts and fence stakes most recently.
The company was family-owned until 1991 when it was acquired by three owner/operators, Vince Pagano, Doug Sherman, and Rick Bennett. In 1998, the company acquired Stalnaker-Elliott for steel stiffener production capability. In 2012 the owners further expanded the company’s offering through the acquisition of Summit Metal Products, which provided the capability to manufacture and supply a broad assortment of stamped and four-slide metal items as well as angles and brackets. In recognition of the broadening product offering and manufacturing capability beyond metal moulded items, the company name was amended to Hygrade Components in 2013 to better reflect that growing capability. The owners sold to two private equity groups in 2016 with one of the owners staying on in the role of CEO. A new CEO was brought on board in 2018 and he quickly moved to build a strong, experienced team of professionals in the three keys areas of Operations, Sales and Marketing, and Finance.
The new management team has worked to make improvements across a vast array business processes. Major changes have been made to significantly improve in the areas of manufacturing efficiency, product quality, delivery, sales and marketing, customer service and support, financial management, information technology, and profitability, all of which have combined to result in notable topline sales growth, improved margins, and a strong balance sheet. The company has nearly doubled in size since 2018 and the new management team was put in place.
Though primarily a supplier of aluminum and steel roll-formed component parts to the window and door industry throughout most of its history, the Hygrade management team is committed to and is working to expand into additional industries and categories. Capital investments were made to gain the capability for the manufacture of agricultural products in both the vineyard and orchard, and livestock industries in 2019. Management is aggressively pursuing additional categories and industries that can be supported with metal roll-formed product offerings. An update to the company logo design was completed in 2019.
The executive team bought out the stake of one of the private equity firms in December of 2021 and now has majority ownership of the company.
