Vendor Spotlight: Bonnell Aluminum Custom Extrusions
May 13, 2022
Since Jack Dourney founded ArmRLite in 1958, we’ve been dedicated to producing beautiful, top-quality, customizable aluminum and glass garage doors that enhance the appearance of every home and business they adorn. Jack understood that a recipe’s success depends as much on the quality of ingredients as the way they are combined and presented. That’s why ArmRLite has entrusted Bonnell Aluminum to supply us with top-quality, extruded custom aluminum door panels for over six decades. Throughout ArmRLite’s 64-year history, we’ve carefully guarded our reputation as the highest-quality manufacturer of luxurious, durable aluminum and glass garage doors in the United States by refusing to cut corners in the quality of our parts or our superior fabrication process.
While other garage door manufacturers bolt or screw their doors together, ArmRLite is the only manufacturer in the country that fabricates overhead sectional doors using concealed Heli arc welding. Bonnell Aluminum produces our garage door extrusions for us by milling high-quality aluminum through custom dies. We then cut, shape and weld the Bonnell aluminum door extruded parts to create the most durable, customizable, and long-lasting aluminum garage doors available. Integrating Bonnell custom aluminum components with exceptional ArmRLite craftsmanship provides every customer with incredible value. The high-quality, trouble-free nature of Bonnell Aluminum’s extruded aluminum overhead door parts combined with our Heli arc welding fabrication offers our customers peace of mind that ArmRLite’s garage doors will last for generations. When you drive by a beautiful home or business adorned with an ArmRLite aluminum and glass sectional door, you’re not only seeing ArmRLite; you’re also seeing Bonnell.
“In a genuine sense,” says current ArmRLite President and Jack Dourney’s daughter, Shannon McGrady, “Bonnell is the face of our garage doors.”
Three decades after Jack Dourney began sourcing extruded aluminum garage door panels from Bonnell Aluminum, his daughter, Shannon joined the family business. Jack shared a wealth of industry knowledge with Shannon before retiring in 1991. Given his vast experience, it’s particularly significant that the piece of business advice he emphasized most strongly to Shannon and her mother, current CEO Wilma McGrady Dourney, was “Stick with Bonnell.” He asked them to promise always to maintain the relationship with his most trusted and valued supplier. Although the business relationship between ArmRLite and Bonnell stretches back to both companies’ beginnings, Jack’s loyalty derived from more than having built their businesses side-by-side.
Back in the late 1980’s, when Jack was looking to fine-tune the extruded aluminum, he had been sourcing from Bonnell, he approached a different vendor. Jack soon realized that the quality of the product the new vendor produced didn’t meet ArmRLite’s high standards. Jack received warped aluminum extrusions, poor overall product quality, and inferior customer service. Still needing a solution to his product refinement issue, Jack spoke to his contacts at Bonnell. They evaluated the problem and changed processes in order to meet ArmRLite’s needs. Jack was impressed with the Bonnell customer service teams’ extraordinary responsiveness and problem-solving abilities. Those traits have continued to help Bonnell overcome new challenges and conform to ArmRLite’s changing needs over the years. While Shannon and Wilma honor Jack’s memory by continuing to work with Bonnell Aluminum, Bonnell continues to earn their loyalty.
Shannon and Wilma point out that one of the many benefits of working with Bonnell has been the consistency of personal relationships with experienced, knowledgeable staff members throughout the years. Shannon and Wilma have found that the Bonnell team members’ characters mirror the strength and quality of Bonnell’s products. For decades, they have enjoyed working with Regional Sales Manager John Zbytniewski, who is well-respected in the extruded aluminum industry for his vast knowledge of this complex and volatile metal. Brenda Cothren, Inside Sales Representative, assisted Wilma and Jack Dourney for many years. Wilma describes Brenda’s abilities and comprehension of all aspects of Bonnell’s business as “phenomenal.” Wilma and Shannon both enjoy working with Connie Bush, Inside Sales Representative. “She takes immaculate care of our account and is one of the most personable people on the planet. Her detail-oriented manner keeps everything running smoothly.” ArmRLite’s relationship with Sherry Hayden, their outside sales representative, is newer than the others, but Shannon and Wilma are both impressed with her enviable interpersonal and business skills.
Eric Yost, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Bonnell Aluminum added “Our longstanding relationship with ArmRLite has allowed us to show our commitment to our specialty custom product manufacturers and exemplifies our commitment to Bonnell core values of communication, trust, and accountability. ArmRLite continually showed out-of-the-box thinking as they grew their business. Over the years they professionally challenged our capabilities and allowed us to grow with them collectively, delivering value to their customers. Bonnell Aluminum is very thankful for ArmRLite’s trust in our customer care team to ultimately meet their continuing needs. This focus within the aluminum market continues to drive our commitment to other industries utilizing finished aluminum goods.”
Bonnell Aluminum robotic cells help us fabricate to almost limitless capabilities for you and your customers.
Bonnell Aluminum’s consistently accurate product, responsiveness, and commitment to outstanding customer service have led Shannon and Wilma to see Bonnell as an extension of the ArmRLite family. Bonnell has demonstrated time and again that they always keep ArmRLite’s best interests in mind, from assisting with new product die creation to determining proactively when one of ArmRLite’s extrusion dies needs to be replaced due to wear and tear. As a result of their stringent quality control processes, the Bonnell team quickly detects when extruded products are out of tolerance. “They notify us and then retire and replace the die immediately, which is fundamental to ensuring that they produce our door extrusions, accurately and that the production schedule isn’t interrupted,” says Shannon.
ArmRLite has earned an excellent reputation among home and business owners for combining modern, innovative design with precise, top-quality manufacturing to produce one-of-a-kind, dependable aluminum and glass garage doors. In maintaining our relationship with Bonnell Aluminum, we’re assured of a top-quality product from a business partner who has our best interests in mind. Our relationship with Bonnell strengthens the three pillars upon which ArmRLite is based: Durability, Customization, and Family