Tem-Pace Plans to Expand Production, Hire
September 16, 2011

In this recession, when most every company is hurting, Tem-Pace LLC of Niles, Mich., is planning to expand production by about 20 percent by adding a shift and hiring seven more people, says Bart Bennett, president.

Tem-Pace Inc. became Tem-Pace LLC on July 14 when an affiliate of Cypress Co., an investment group in Akron, Ohio, bought all the assets of Tem-Pace Inc. Tem-Pace LLC will continue to manufacture the same tempered glass products that it presently supplies.

Richard Krause Sr., former chief executive officer, president and founder of Tem-Pace Inc., started the company in 1987, after he recognized the need for a tempering service in the tri-state area of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. About a year ago, he decided to sell the company because he wanted to retire, Bennett says. Krause has stepped down and is working as a glass processing manager now, and plans to retire within the next year.

Tem-Pace has 80 employees in two offices in one location. The company had 125 employees in 2007, and will try to get back to that number in the next couple of years, Bennett says.

“New business, quality and service, and shorter lead time” are the three major items on Bennett’s agenda as the new president. “We plan on expanding our marketing group, which has been two people, by hiring one to two more people,” he says. “We also will work on team building through meetings and training.” Shorter lead times will be accomplished through the additional shift and new hires, he says.

Tem-Pace ships all across the United States and to Canada and Mexico.

“Our customers haven’t seen any changes in our service,” Bennett says. “Cypress bought us because we are a solid company. We have a team of people who can run the company. Cypress doesn’t want to run us; they want to be in the background and help us grow.”

According to Bennett, the Cypress Co. is easy to work with, and “speaking for all the employees, we are very pleased in how they handled this whole process,” he says. “We talked to 12 to 15 buyers, and chose Cypress because they were the best fit.” The deal took about a year to close.

Bennett, former partner and long-time general manager, has been with Tem-Pace since the beginning of the company, and has been managing the daily operations for years.

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