A Better Door

Horton Automatics Inc. President Robert McGovern explains how the company leads the way in sliding doors and beyond. --  Erica Gallagher

The 1950s and '60s were a time of dream cars, TV dinners and the nation's fascination with space that carried over into a quest for products that provided convenience and safety. Horton Automatics Inc. began in this era with its invention of automatic sliding doors. The idea of building an automatic sliding door came to inventor Lew Hewitt and entrepreneur Dee Horton in the mid-1950s, when they saw that existing manual swing doors had difficulty operating in the windy conditions of Corpus Christi, Texas. So the two men began diligently designing an automatic sliding door that would resist high winds and their damaging effect.

Horton Automatics was formed in 1960, placing the first commercial automatic sliding door on the market and literally establishing an entirely new industry. People now take for granted the luxury of having doors automatically open for them. Horton Automatics' doors help people in and out of commercial, industrial and institutional buildings. Its doors meet or exceed the exit door requirements for every major building code in the United States, as well as provide compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

"Increased expectations of convenience, safety and security from the American private and public sectors really drive the need to constantly challenge design and product definition," says Robert McGovern, president. "Our competitive advantage is the global reach we have with Sanwa (parent), strong application developments and that our U.S. businesses complement product designs and offerings."

It takes little effort to find a Horton automatic door or window. Horton Automatics builds about 35,000 automatic doors, revolving doors, security entrances and windows annually. Its customers include restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes, airports, hotels, casinos, office buildings, convenience stores, retail food stores and government buildings, to mention a few. Some of the Fortune 500 companies that use Horton Automatics doors include McDonald's, Sears, American Airlines, Walgreens, Wendy's, IBM, Exxon, AT&T, Marriott, Taco Bell and Disney World.

"Our strategy for products is to design safe entrance systems for specific customer needs," McGovern says. "Most of the competition seems to have one type of operator per door type. By contrast, we design operators that are designed to fit the specific needs of the application."

"We do not subscribe to the thinking that one size fits all," he continues. "We position ourselves to be application experts, and as a result, we can offer lowest cost of ownership and a safer product."

King of Firsts
Horton Automatics' industry "firsts" help illustrate the company's commitment to technological excellence. It was the first to gain nationwide building code acceptance for the automatic sliding door; first to achieve UL listing of the patented sliding door emergency egress breakaway; first to market the automatic pass-through window; and first to include the door panels as an integral part of the automatic sliding door installation package. Also, it developed and patented the "segmented revolving door," the company says.

"Horton continues to broaden its product offering by providing innovative solutions to varying customer needs in a wide variety of markets and applications," McGovern says. "What started as a company offering a solution for retail grocers has evolved into a global business with the industry's most comprehensive product line."

All in the Family
Horton Automatics is a sister company to Overhead Door, which invented the first upward-acting door in 1921 and the first electric door opener in 1926. Today, like Horton, Overhead Door remains an industry leader.

Both businesses are part of Japan-based Sanwa Shutter Corp. and are managed by the Overhead Door Corp. As a manufacturer of heavy-duty and lightweight shutters in Japan, it is the No. 1 manufacturer of construction products domestically, including automatic and revolving doors, and has leveraged its brand equity to become the recognized industry leader worldwide.

Horton Automatics Ltd., present in the United Kingdom since 1989, is prominent among the few suppliers of automatic doors who fabricate on-site in that country. Horton is the only supplier to have its own in-house powder coating plant, offering clients a comprehensive range of colors.

Horton's approximately 400 employees are dedicated to offering unsurpassed customer service through their experience and extensive product knowledge.

"Without question, we are a 'technical support' company and to make that effective, you have to have both highly trained and highly experienced employees," McGovern says. "Our technical and customer services are three to four times larger than our closest competitor, with an average industry experience over 10 years. This may seem odd in today's world of lean employment, but it clearly supports both our application-specific product offering and our 100 percent commitment to work with service partners.

"We consider our independent distributors a key part of the business," he explains, "and support for these 137 businesses requires door smart professionals."

The company's future development will focus on maintaining the industry's leading edge of product development to assure customers of the safest entrance systems with the latest features and lowest cost of ownership.

"This year we will introduce several new products to enhance our Security Product Line," he says. "We currently offer the broadest offering in this area, so our development is more along the lines of integration of proven techniques that provide a building owner with a complete solution."

"We are also working with our sister companies to provide common control and communication with all our entrance products, from front door to back dock," he continues. "The advantage (to users) will be significant."