WYSOX -- Officials from the Towanda plant of CraftMaster Manufacturing, Inc., welcomed their new owners during an informal ceremony held at the plant on Leisure Drive in Wysox Tuesday morning.

   Representatives from the Chicago-based T.M. Cobb Companies and the Idaho-based Woodgrain Millwork attended the event, along with officials and employees from the Towanda-plant and Bradford County Commissioners Janet Lewis, Nancy Schrader and John Sullivan.

   Officials from Key Principal Partners, which helped finance the sale, also attended the ceremony.

   The ceremony was an opportunity not only for the principals of the two companies to meet the employees of their new plant, but also to tell the community about who each company is and what they hope the future of CraftMaster in Bradford County will be.

   The future is bright for the door and door-molding making business, according to the principals of the two-independent companies that now own the manufacturing plant, and therefore the future is also bright for the more than 500 employees at the Towanda plant.

   Employees from the Towanda-mill were also recognized Tuesday for reaching the milestone of having more than six million hours, or five years, without a serious injury reported at the plant, while others were recognized for working at the plant for 25 years or more.

   The Towanda manufacturing plant has 189 employees, of it's approximate 550, that have worked at the plant for 25 years or more, according to plant manager Bob Andzulis.

   T.M. Cobb Companies and Woodgrain Millwork announced in March that they had purchased CraftMaster Manufacturing Inc., the Chicago-based manufacturer of CraftMaster Door Designs and MiraTEC Treated Exterior Composite Trim.

   Jeff Cobb, the vice-president of T.M. Cobb Companies told employees and management of CraftMaster on Tuesday that T.M. Cobb is a family-owned business that was founded in 1935 by his grandfather. 

   The company is now owned and operated by Jeff Cobb's father Tom Cobb, the president of the company, and Jeff's brother, Jason Cobb, co-vice-president of the company.

   The board of directors also consists of Jeff Cobb's sister and two cousins, as well as his uncle, he said.
CraftMaster has been known in the Towanda area as Masonite since the plants inception in 1966. The name was also used after the company was purchased by International Paper in 2000.

   Tuesday Bob Merrill, President of CraftMaster said he knows it will be difficult for community members to think of the Towanda mill as CraftMaster, but no matter what the plant is called Masonite's spirit of innovation and new developments will always be at the heart of the business.

   "The foundations and principals we learned from Masonite are important," Merrill said. 

   He said if people still slip and call the plant Masonite, there is nothing wrong with that.

   "Masonite is not a bad name," he said, then added jokingly, about Masonite International, formerly known as Premdor, "Now if you're referring to those guys in Toronto it might be a bad name."

   Merrill said he knew of no other newly formed company that had 189 individuals with 25 years or more of experience under their belts. The 25 or more years of experience of the 189 employees adds up to about 5,444 years of experience, he added.

   "To paraphrase a famous quote, 'this is the foundation on which we build our company," Merrill said, adding later, "We have a lot of challenges ahead ... I think we have all we need to rise to those challenges and succeed. With the support of all of you who make up CraftMaster, and the community, I know we are going to prosper."

   Merrill also announced Tuesday that the board of directors of T.M. Cobb Companies and Woodgrain Millwork recently approved a $2 million investment for a sander at the Towanda-mill that will help the company to keep producing the MiraTEC line of products.

   The MiraTEC Trim line at the Towanda plant started production in 1999 .

   Jeff Cobb told those in attendance at the informal gathering that T.M. Cobb Companies is excited about the prospects of it's company now that it has purchased a plant with such a positive reputation.

   T.M. Cobb also owns Haley Brothers, which also manufacturers wood-door products. It is headquartered in Riverside, Calif., and operates six manufacturing plants, three distribution warehouses and eight sales offices.
Cobb said CraftMaster Manufacturing in Towanda, whether under the name Masonite or CraftMaster has demonstrated excellence and has shown that it is top notch in almost every category of manufacturing that there is.

   "We welcome you guys to our family and we hope you will welcome us to yours," Cobb said.

   Kelly Dame, executive vice president of Woodgrain Millwork concurred with Cobb about the excellence of the Towanda plant and the desire for the two companies to join together as a business family.

   Woodgrain Millwork is the world's largest manufacturer of pine doors and also produces high-quality vinyl and wood windows, finished and raw moldings and millwork.

   The company has 10 manufacturing facilities, 9 distribution facilities and 2 window plants in the United States.
Dame said the excellence of the employees at the Towanda location is what made the business so desirable to Woodgrain Millwork and T.M. Cobb.

   "As Dale Carnegie once said, 'you can take my bricks and mortar away and leave me my employees and I will build my steel business up again.' That is what we have here in Towanda," Dame said.

   Bradford County Commissioner Janet Lewis thanked the owners of T.M. Cobb and Woodgrain Millwork for showing a commitment to continuing the excellent work ethic that has been found at the Towanda-mill for the past 40 years.
"We really appreciate CraftMasters commitment to Bradford County," Lewis said. "Thank you for coming here and for having faith in the Bradford County plant. We welcome you and we want you to know that if there is anything (that we as Bradford County Commissioners) can do for you, we are here."

   The officials from the companies said that employee and management meetings will be held throughout the next couple of days to outline the goals of the company and to help acclimate employees to the new companies.
The Towanda-plant, and all of Masonite Corp was sold in August of 2001 by International Paper to Premdor, of Toronto, Canada, which has now taken on the name Masonite International. 

   International Paper purchased Masonite Corporation in 2000.

   Premdor/Masonite International was forced to sell the Towanda plant because of stipulations passed down by the United States Department of Justice, which eventually brought T.M. Cobb and Woodgrain Millwork to the negotiating table.