It was 1990. The internet was just starting to take its first steps toward revolutionizing the world. The manufacturing industry was undergoing significant changes, including a major shift toward globalization and an increased focus on quality and efficiency. It was also the year that East Coast Metal Systems Inc. (ECMS) entered the market. For over three and a half decades, East Coast has delivered architectural metal and exterior envelope system solutions to clients nationwide.
Four years later, a young and spritely John Trifonoff entered the business as a shop apprentice, where he began gaining experience in commercial refrigeration and sheet metal. John Trifonoff worked his way up from Superintendent to General Manager. Now, a lot of hard work and 30 years later, Trifonoff leads the ECMS team as Vice President.
Today, Trifonoff can typically be found on the shop floor of East Coast’s 60,000 square foot fabrication facility. It is here in the Town of Triadelphia, West Virginia where the staff of about 65 skilled tradespeople—with another 32 in the office—produce high-quality, custom-engineered composite panels, metal roofing, ornamental metals, column covers, architectural flashing and accessories, and many other interior and exterior cladding products.
Owing in part to its modern facility and investment in the latest technology, Trifonoff says East Coast is “a true job shop.” Using 5,000-pound (2,267 kg) lifts instead of overhead cranes makes ECMS flexible and able to handle work across a broad range of industries, including government, higher education, automotive, and residential, to name a few.
Joining forces with Overly
Along with investing in its people, equipment, and technology, East Coast recently allied with custom architectural metal systems manufacturer, Overly.
Founded over a century ago, Overly Manufacturing is renowned for its many products, including custom architectural metal roofing and wall panel systems for industrial, commercial, medical, educational, and government clients. Like East Coast, Overly has a well-deserved reputation for research, innovation, and enduring quality, and will strengthen East Coast’s reliable market presence. “We are now producing Overly wall panel systems and Overly roof systems,” says Trifonoff.
East Coast’s investment in Overly sees both companies come full circle. When master tinsmith William Fisher Overly started the W.F. Overly Company in 1888, the business focused on tin and slate roofing, including church steeples and theater marquees. A quarter-century ago, Overly pioneered the Precision Profile, the first inverted batten seam system.
Recently, Overly by East Coast introduced its latest innovation, the EVOLUTION® system (U.S. Patent No. 9,181,692), a “covering system for a building substrate.”
Enter the EVOLUTION® system
Representing “the pinnacle of custom architectural metal roof systems, this sleek system eliminates raised battens for a smooth and modern aesthetic. It boasts concealed fasteners and our signature Overly by East Coast continuous internal drain channel, ensuring precise drainage control,” as the company states.
Available in high-quality metals and finishes such as stainless steel, aluminum, zinc, and titanium, the EVOLUTION® system is customizable, highly versatile, can be seamlessly integrated into walls, barrel vaults, and other areas, can be curved into concave or convex profiles, and carries a 20-year limited performance warranty. This unique roof system has an aluminum extrusion which the panel system locks into, and a batten snaps over the top. To date, the system has been used on churches and several high-profile projects including the LAX International Airport, Nashville International Airport, UPMC Mercy – Vision & Rehabilitation, and WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to produce that product. It’s got a great history, and is a great product,” says Trifonoff.
“With our technology and processes, we really added some efficiencies to the things [Overly was] making and the way we run things here,” he says. “We’re trying to revitalize this and bring it back to the market. At one point, people thought it was going to go out of business, and we want to make sure we are letting everyone know it didn’t happen. We’re keeping this brand in the market—it’s been out there for a while—and we’re making sure the history of this product continues.”
For its part, Overly was seeking a partner that respected its history, traditions, and commitment to quality, and that possessed the right manufacturing capabilities—namely East Coast Metal Systems. “We line up with the things Overly was doing,” Trifonoff says. “By adding some of our technology, efficiencies, and the way we do things, you get a really good product to put on the market, and can be competitive.”
The asset acquisition also signifies East Coast refining its direction as a business. This includes the company developing several leadership groups within the organization, with staff taking on their own identities through different disciplines. Instead of everyone reporting to Trifonoff, ECMS now has a production leader, estimating leader, and shop general manager for workers to approach for guidance.
Welcoming the future
For many years, East Coast’s main coverage area was up and down the coast of Mississippi. Now, with the Overly expansion, the company can work in all 50 states—with significant growth in projects in California and Texas—and is looking at taking on jobs internationally.
The work of the East Coast and Overly team includes a roof system for Texas Airport in Laredo and a well-known observatory in Santa Monica, California, projects that have helped open up markets in those states. The team has also performed work on the world-famous Dior flagship store on North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and is completing a radius dome at 101 Constitution Ave. near the Capitol in Washington.
Turning 35 next year, East Coast continues to serve its many customers with pride and professionalism. Ensuring the years to come will be successful, the company works with several programs to recruit the next generation of employees. Building on its legacy, the dedicated team at East Coast Metal Systems is eager to take on even larger and more complex projects in the years to come.
“I think growth is important to us, but controlled growth,” Trifonoff says. “With the acquisition of Overly, we need to make sure we don’t run before we walk. We need everybody to support that effort and make sure the market is aware of it is part of what we are doing; that is important. Steady, profitable growth is important. Those things are key to making sure the longevity of the business will be there,” he says.
“We don’t want to outgrow, wear people out, and have a lot of turnover, so we want to make sure we are measured in our growth and continue to build the business.”
