The Garland Company began manufacturing and marketing environmentally-conscious roofing and flooring solutions long before the term "sustainable design" became stylish. Today, sustainability is Garland doctrine.
The company that began with just one employee more than 100 years ago now employs more than 500 people across 12 sister companies under the umbrella organization of
Garland Industries Inc.
Founded in 1895 as an oil, grease and paint supplier, Garland today is 100 percent employee-owned, manufacturing high-performance products for commercial, industrial and public properties.
The product line includes reflective, modified bitumen, metal, vegetative and photovoltaic solutions.
"Garland is at the forefront of our industry in the area of sustainable technology for the total building envelope," says Tom Bauer, a Garland Company product Manager. "We've built our entire family of technologies around the belief that longevity is the primary attribute of sustainable design."
Garland's earliest vegetative roofs were introduced to the market in 1991. And in 2008 the company launched "Garland Greenhouse" branding to identify its growing family of sustainable offerings.
Last year, Garland was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Northeast Ohio, receiving the Weatherhead Centurion award from the Case Western Reserve University
Weatherhead School of Management and the
Council Of Smaller Enterprises.
Bauer says there are no plans to leave the area.
"(Cleveland) has been hospitable to the numerous expansions we have undertaken over the years," he says. "We have been fortunate enough to have benefited at times from various economic development initiatives offered by the city, and (we) are proud to call Cleveland our home."
Sources: Michelle Sweitzer and Tom Bauer, The Garland CompanyWriter: Colin McEwen