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GLI makes pool-safety products in safe environment
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Like every season, summer comes with distinctive smells.
Sunscreen. Sweet corn. Strawberry sundaes.
Once the smells hit Ohioans, it’s time to bring out the grill, open the pool and enjoy some family time.
At GLI Pool Products, where vinyl pool liners and pool covers are manufactured, the smell of summer is constant because workers there continuously make custom products to keep families safe so they can enjoy the smells and sunshine.
“We bring families together and keep them safe,” said Gary Crandall, president of the 9-year-old Youngstown company.
GLI, located at 215 Sinter Court, has also been maintaining high safety standards within the facility where more than 220 work.
The company recently won four awards from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
“It’s rare for an employer to get all four,” said David J. Costantino, employment management supervisor for the BWC. “They have reduced their claims costs and dramatically reduced the number of days lost down to zero.”
For 2014, GLI received the group award for lowest incident rate in each industry group; the 100 percent award for zero injuries or illnesses resulting in a day or more away from work in a previous calendar year; the achievement award for 25 percent reduction in incident rate from the previous year; and the special award for at least 500,000 hours and at least six months without an injury resulting in a day or more away from work.
From Nov. 15, 2013, to Dec. 31, 2014, GLI had 518,214 hours without an injury that resulted in loss of work.
Through April the company has about 700,000 hours.
“The special award is very difficult to get,” said Costantino, who works out of Youngstown’s BWC office. “Not many employers get that. You have to be doing the right things.”
After orders come in from an international distribution network, GLI workers use visual cues to tell the operator the next step in making a custom vinyl liner. For example, different colors are used to represent the next step in the process of making a liner.
“Liners are getting more and more complex,” said Mike Loccisano, vice president of operations at GLI. “The technology on how you make liners has never changed, so we are finding more ways to make custom product.”
Because the in-ground pools are more complex, the liners have to be more complex. At GLI, they use the dimensions of the pool, then take vinyl liner pieces and seal them together to fit the dimensions.
“It’s like putting together a puzzle,” Loccisano said.
Once the liner is completed it is blown up with a fan to make sure it does not have any holes. After inspection, the liners are folded up and shipped off.
Safety covers are made out of mesh and other solid materials with spring systems. About 70 percent of GLI’s products are custom manufactured.
“The safety covers cover the top of the pool and protect people from falling in the pool,” Crandall said.
GLI has manufactured close to 300,000 liners and close to 100,000 safety covers. In the plant, workers are reminded through a digital screen of just how many families they have served.
“We really try to make the plant very visual,” Loccisano said.
A list of other pool products manufactured elsewhere are distributed out of the plant. In addition to its 105,000-square-foot Sinter Court plant, GLI has a 50,000-square-foot distribution center.
In order to shell out those orders and maintain a safe environment for employees, GLI has sought out employee input.
“We have totally revamped our safety-training programs in the last two years,” Loccisano said. “Employees can bring up ideas or issues and we have folks assigned to take care of them.”
While the company already quadrupled in size since its 2006 start, leaders there believe the company has barely scratched the service of its potential.
An additional 20 acres is there and ready for the company to grow into.
“We have enough acres to triple the size of the facility,” Loccisano said.