Case Studies

Bell Hardware

Bell Hardware is a third-generation, family-owned business in Klamath Falls that grew from one hardware store in the 1930s into a significant supplier of commercial grade doors systems with its own fabrication operation. Today the company supplies customers in Oregon, Northern California, Southern Washington and Nevada with commercial-grade doors, frames and specialized hardware. Products from Bell Hardware have been incorporated into impressive structures such as Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Facebook data center in Prineville, and Adidas in Portland.

Klamath Falls Advantages

Bell Hardware recognizes several distinct advantages to having its hub in Klamath Falls. President John Bell especially appreciates the high quality workforce and says they enjoy a low employee-turnover rate with most managers staying between 20 and 40 years. He has full confidence in the quality of their shop employees as well. “I would put my crew up against anyone in the business, any day,” he says. The Klamath Falls market provides consistently low operating costs for Bell Hardware, including reasonable wages, rent, utilities, and other expenses. The company also says it has had favorable trucking and delivery arrangements because of the town’s location on Hwy 97, which begins at I-5 in Northern California and connects to I-84 along the Oregon-Washington border.

A Vision for Growth

So how did this company transition from a one-store retail business to a booming fabricator that supports seven branches totaling more than 70 employees? About 20 years after the family began as a retailer on Main Street, the founder’s son joined the business with a vision to expand into the commercial hardware market. They purchased a building a couple of miles from the store so they could begin producing metal frames and doors, and eventually architectural wood door systems.

The venture was so successful they opened sales branches in Medford, Eugene and Redding between 1973 and 1986. Bell Hardware’s growth continued as the third generation of the Bell family entered the business and led the opening of offices in Bend, Portland and Salem from 1995 to 2000. Today the company’s portfolio of products includes a variety of doors and frames with specialized locks, closers, and exit devices for hospitals, hotels, assisted living, government buildings, schools and other buildings that require numerous technical specifications such as fire ratings, panic bars, and accommodation of electronic controls. Each Bell Hardware branch handles project estimating, sales, installation and service for large-scale projects, while Klamath Falls remains home to Bell Hardware’s headquarters and showroom downtown and its distribution and hollow metal fabrication shop on Broad Street.

JELD-WEN

JELD-WEN was founded in Klamath Falls in 1960 as a supplier of wood window components, and has grown into a multi-billion dollar manufacturer of windows and doors, operating in 20 countries. In the city limits, near the southern shores of Upper Klamath Lake, you’ll find the heart and soul of JELD-WEN, where it all began, and where it continues to innovate. The company employs about 1,000 people in Klamath County, 2,000 in Oregon, 10,000 in the U.S. and 20,000 worldwide.

Passers-by often equate JELD-WEN with an impressively sized manufacturing plant that is highly visible on Hwy 97 about 25 miles north of Klamath Falls near Chiloquin. This plant is just one of several facilities the company runs today in Klamath County. Near its original mill site in Klamath Falls, JELD-WEN operates a sawmill, a wood component manufacturing plant, and a facility that presses wood fiber into interior door skins. But the company’s presence here isn’t limited to production. Surrounding the plants on Lakeshore Drive, JELD-WEN has an extensive campus that houses engineering, research and development, customer service and warranty customer care, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and risk management. The company’s president in 2015 referred to Klamath Falls as “the epicenter of all the innovation globally for JELD-WEN.”

Product Development & Customer Support

Most recently JELD-WEN expanded two significant functions in Klamath Falls: product development and customer support. To accomplish its strategic expansion of product design and testing, JELD-WEN took on 20 new engineers in Klamath Falls. When management decided to centralize door ordering, it chose Klamath Falls to locate the company’s largest-ever call center. Customer service functions that were once handled by each plant were centralized, which has resulted in more standardized processes and accelerated sharing of best practices. This move doubled the size of the customer support staff located in Klamath Falls, upwards of 40 positions, with the potential for 60 in the future.

Recruiting Locally & Globally

Oregon Tech and Klamath Community College help supply the educated workforce JELD-WEN requires, especially in the areas of information technology, accounting, engineering, and operations management. The company has also had success recruiting employees to the area, especially those looking for a healthy lifestyle focused on the great outdoors and a family-friendly pace of life. The fact that Klamath Falls is a convenient midway point between entertainment destinations such as San Francisco, Lake Tahoe and Portland, means JELD-WEN employees in Klamath Falls enjoy an even greater variety of recreational options than what the Basin already offers.
JELD-WEN requires reliable broadband to support virtually all aspects of its global business, including paperless production systems, financial tracking and reporting, internal networks, call volumes, and video conferencing. The Klamath Basin has redundant broadband paths, one from the west and one from the north, giving businesses here full confidence in reliable connections to keep their business moving forward.