Custom Glazing Gaskets: Conversation with Orazen founder Mike Orazen

This Martineau Minute interview features Mike Orazen, founder of Ohio based Orazen Extruded Polymers. Orazen Extruded Polymers manufactures and supplies extruded polymer products for the commercial glazing market.  

M&Co Sales Representative Mitch Hawkins and Mike Orazen discuss how he got into the commercial glazing gasket business, how Orazen Extruded Polymers has grown to what it is today, and the people, specialty engineering, and agility that sets them apart. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• "What we do that's special is serve, and have a sense of urgency with our customers and with each other, and with our suppliers...I think if you do that with authenticity and you do it consistently, the market wants that."
• "a lot of times our customers need things fast because something didn't quite go right, and with the aluminum or the glass or this project got moved in or moved out, and our ability to respond and react is unmatched."
  
  

Martineau Minute:  Mike Orazen, Founder Orazen Extruded Polymers

Transcript:

Mitch Hawkins:

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Martineau Minute. I'm Mitch Hawkins with Martineau & Company, and today's episode features Mike Orazen with Orazen Extruded Polymers. Mike, first of all, it's been awesome working with your company. You guys are second to none when it comes to taking care of your employees and the products that you guys make, and we've really enjoyed getting to represent you guys out in the Northeast Architectural Glazing Market. So thanks for letting us work with you, and thanks for joining me today on the Martineau Minute.

Mike Orazen:

Thanks for having me. It's been really good to get you guys included in what we're doing, and, and certainly an honor to be a part of Martineau & Co as well, with the experience and the history that your company has. It really solidifies that we're making our name out there and we're doing a good job.

Mitch:

Yeah, I would sure say so. The growth that I think has come outta your guys' place in the last couple of years, for sure, has been pretty impressive. And, and we're happy that we get to work with you guys in major glazing markets like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. So as we get started here, let's just do a quick introduction of yourself for anybody that's listening or paying attention. So just a brief intro to yourself and what you do for Orazen.

History of Mike Orazen and the Birth of Orazen Extruded Polymers

Mike:

My history in this market goes back to when I was 14 and my dad started a company called EPG, which stood for Extruded Polymers for Glazing. He saw an opportunity, he had some experience in manufacturing and even rubber extrusion, but saw a really nice niche in this glass market and understood it well. He wanted to serve it solely, as opposed to just being one of many markets that rubber extrusion or a plastic extrusion company serves. He felt if you focused on that, understood it well, trained the employees to understand the ins and outs of how gaskets apply between aluminum and glass, and built great relationships with customers and employees, that there was an opportunity to be successful, and EPG was, and I was a part of that from the day he started the company.

An American Manufacturing Success Story

I moved in and helped him move in his first extruder as a kid, and stayed a part of it, as really cheap labor for a long time as a high school and college kid. And then right outta school, I went to Miami, Ohio and graduated in ‘91. And you know, I thought I wanted to go do some other things, but what I realized is that I had such a great opportunity to have an impact at my dad's place. I had one internship prior to starting with EPG in a summer when I was in college, and saw a lot of people hiding from responsibilities, you know, kind of ducking anything that really mattered if they could. And, that's not how I was built or raised. So my dad offered me a job, and I took it, and I'm really glad I did.

The time I spent with him, what I've learned from him and others at that period of time. And the relationships that I developed, both from a supply side, a sales rep side, and a customer side, ended up becoming very invaluable. So that was ‘91. I think EPG was a $3 million company, and between 91 and 2000, early 2000s, we built it to a $16- $18 million company and hired a lot of great people and had a lot of fun and created a lot of great relationships. So I became president of the company around 2000. And, it was right around then that companies like Trelleborg and Tremco and other companies started asking if we were for sale, and we really weren't. At the same time, there was this thing called the China syndrome going on where everyone kind of felt like manufacturing was going away in the United States.

And that was a little nerve-wracking for our family because my dad and mom really came from humble beginnings. And so everything that they and that they had built were wrapped up in this business. So ultimately, our family decided to sell. I stayed on for a couple years. It was a great experience going to Scandinavia and Europe and seeing incredible processes and meeting good people, but I had an itch to scratch in and around coaching. So I did that. I left and started a facility where my objective was to help kids understand what they're capable of in life through athletic training, and we had some integrated intentional character training through the athletic training. And it was a really neat concept. But the timing was not great. It was, you know, mid 2007.

Building Orazen Extruded Polymers

And it was maybe a bigger dream than I could really even explain or communicate. It was just a different idea, and ultimately for a lot of reasons, it didn't work out. It failed. So I was in a position in my life where I had to figure something out. I had three kids at the time and one on the way. And so, what I realized very quickly is, I was always a coach. Even when I was at EPG, it was just in a factory. And, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's kind of beautiful. And so I started by myself and shortly after I hired Sam Schilling and Justin Zickel, two of my main guys now. Zach Hruby's my controller, Sam's my director of engineering. Justin runs the operations, and these guys were kids at the time.

And now they're my staff. My brother-in-law, Matt Glass is our sales manager. And in 12 years we've gone from me alone for the first year and a half, to now, we have close to 40 people. We own our own building in Aurora, Ohio, 45,000 square feet. And have an incredible team from every person on the shop floor to everyone in the office. You talk about what we're doing special, the manufacturing stuff we're making is really good stuff, but it's not rocket science. What we do that's special is serve, and have a sense of urgency with our customers and with each other, and with our suppliers. And, you know, I think if you do that with authenticity and you do it consistently, the market wants that.

“And a lot of times our customers need things fast because something didn't quite go right, and with the aluminum or the glass or this project got moved in or moved out, and our ability to respond and react is unmatched.”

And I love our market so much, because we're not putting on suits and ties generally every day. We're serving each other. And a lot of times our customers need things fast because something didn't quite go right, and with the aluminum or the glass or this project got moved in or moved out, and our ability to respond and react is unmatched. And I guess the most incredible thing I can say about what we've built is that I love coming to work every day. I really do. I just love being here. And I feel like the other 37 or 38 people that work here feel the same way.

Mitch:

That's pretty sweet, man. It's obvious just talking to you the passion you have for it, and for the people that you have too. That's really cool that you have such a direct impact on every person working for you. That's cool.

Mike:

Appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, and going back to the coaching thing, that's what it is. I'm a coach now and a cheerleader, right? I have such a good staff that, most of the time, I'm here when they need me. And when, when we do something great, we celebrate together and I lead that up. And if there's a problem or an issue or an opportunity that seems overwhelming, we lock arms and go battle it together. And that's good stuff.

Mitch:

That's pretty sweet. Now, I mean, down to the nitty gritty, product wise, what are some of the things right now that you're offering, or doing on a day-to-day basis that can service some of the people out here that we're working with?

3 Ways Orazen is Different from What You’ll Find in the Custom Glazing Gasket Market

#1 Our People

Mike:

So one of the things that when I started the company, that I knew I needed at some point was really good engineering design assistance for this market. And that was never my thing when I was growing up through EPG, I was more of an operations and purchasing and planning and shop floor management and that type of thing. So I knew I needed to find somebody or develop somebody. And Sam Schilling, I think when he started with me, he was about 21. I think he's 32 or 33 now. He has just grown tremendously, and we offer tremendous design assist. Matt Glass, our sales manager, is integral in making sure that they get the right attention from Sam and the others. Tyler, who does all the development in terms of new products we're looking towards, some co-extrusion we're setting up a line now that is gonna be new and different for us.