Mission/History of Donald Dean & Sons
Mission
The mission of Donald Dean & Sons, is to strive for total customer satisfaction by providing the highest quality workmanship in our wood products. All orders, from one item to thousands, are manufactured to meet the customer's needs in a timely manner.
Donald Dean and Sons Inc. is currently a third generation company, which is in its 75th year of operation. Donald Dean a local resident and native of the hardwood forests of Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains, started a sawmill operation in 1932. Soon to follow was a concentration yard and a wholesale lumber business. By the early 1950's, a building with dry kilns was constructed for the manufacturing of wood parts and components. Until his death in 1989, he was the founder and foremost player in the growth of the company.
History
In the 1950's, his sons, William and John, joined forces and made Donald Dean and Sons into a high-end, top quality, cabinet door manufacturer for the Kitchen and Bath Industry. By the early 1970's, we were established as one of the finest manufacturers within the Continental United States. Since this time, there has been an addition of a second plant, several modern dry kilns, lumber storage sheds and an office building. Also in the early 1980's we implemented a line of red oak butcher-block furniture as a by-product of our normal production launching us into the Unfinished Furniture Market. This proved to be an excellent avenue to produce a product line with shorter material that would normally be wood waste.
At the turn of the century, grandson and granddaughter, Jeffrey and Susan took over the reins to bring the operation into the third generation. With that change, Donald Dean and Sons consolidated the two facilities into one efficient operating plant with a true hierarchy and management team.
Currently, we are one of the largest manufacturers and one of the largest employers in the Susquehanna County of Pennsylvania. We employ approximately 70 people in the Montrose Area. Our location (link to the map) gives us a distinct advantage in our ability to purchase lumber. Being located in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania herein lays the Northern Appalachian Hardwoods. We have access to some of the most sought after hardwoods in the country.
As in every area of industry, technology is rapidly changing and advancing in today's world. Donald Dean and Sons has recognized the need to participate in these advances. Over the past several years, we have purchased some very advanced, technical equipment, which will improve yield and increase our efficiency. We have actually been a pioneer within the woodworking industry in upgrading equipment and utilizing techniques for better optimization. In the late 1990's, we traveled to Germany in the pursuit of a piece of equipment which was not available in the United States at the time. We are visited regularly by manufacturers throughout the region because of our state-of-the-art-equipment.
One of our most important strengths is its recognition of the customer. Our customer service is exceptional and has been recognized by many vendors as top performers in service, timeliness and quality. This is an area we take great pride in and realize its value.
