Overly Manufacturing Company | 9
timately went on to purchase the company,
liking all he saw in its history, product offer-
ings as well as the work ethic and craftsman-
ship of the company’s workforce, and what
was more, the company was located right
there in his hometown of Greensburg.
At this time, the company still functioned
as something of a job shop which was diffi-
cult to reconcile for someone coming from
a production stream rich and marketing rich
environment like Pepsi. Reese and his broth-
er implemented a new national sales strategy
where none existed, restructured plant oper-
ations as well as the company to create a new
production system as well as separate divi-
sions, with one that solely focused on doors
and assemblies (Overly Door) and another
division that could grow by reinvigorating
the work involving roof systems and other
products (Overly Manufacturing). As Reese
explains, he and his brother also met with
engineers to determine if products could be
redesigned to improve their function. As
can be imagined, it prompted some measure
of angst with engineers when he asked, “Can
we do it better?” Reese, who has no qualms
admitting that he doesn’t ascribe to conven-
tional wisdom, says sometimes companies
