Ekena Millwork - The 'Sleeping Giant' of Urethane Millwork?

Online, July 19, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Have you heard of Ekena Millwork? No? Neither has the rest of the industry - but you should have.

Ekena Millwork is largest 'unknown name' in the urethane millwork industry. While their name may not be a huge brand like Fypon or Azek, Ekena supplies some of the largest retailers and wholesalers in the country, with millwork like moulding, ceiling medallions, domes, brackets, corbels, columns, and much more.

The names you are used to hearing are Fypon, Spectis, and Chemcrest, and while Fypon and Spectis still remain the two largest names in urethane, I predict that Ekena is someone that they should watch out for.

While visiting a wood shutter company that was going out of business in North East Texas a few months ago, I drove past a building with the name Ekena Millwork on it. On my way out of town, I decided to drop in and see what type of millwork they do. I was completely caught off guard by Ekena. They have three large warehouse and manufacturing buildings in Clarksville, TX - totaling over 200,000sq/ft.

All three buildings are packed full of both urethane millwork and wood carvings. Apparently, they supply lumber yards and online retailers across the country with moulding, medallions, carved corbels, and basically any type of millwork that Fypon and Spectis is known for. I've been in the construction industry for quite a while, and I had never heard of this company until I accidentally drove past them one summer day in July.

After spending some time with the General Manager - Ron Read - at Ekena, I learned that they are a fast-growing and technology-driven company that specializes in streamlining the millwork industry as much as possible. Ekena Millwork started out as a custom wood carving shop before developing a full line of wood carvings. Their wood carvings - brackets, corbels, onlays, and columns - were an instant hit with local lumber yards. They then decided to slowly build a line of urethane millwork, and began selling this to the same lumber yards.

Fast forward several years later, now Ekena Millwork has one of the largest lines of urethane millwork in the country, not to mention their already huge line of wood carvings. They have over three hundred different medallions, over two hundred different moulding profiles, over three hundred corbels, and the list goes on. The even more impressive thing is, they deeply inventory everything in their catalog.

I didn't believe Ron when he told me this, but they have hundreds, if not thousands, of almost every urethane millwork product they list as a standard item. I made him show me. We walked through aisles of ceiling medallions; literally aisles of ceiling medallions. He showed me a popular medallion that they had over 1,500 of that specific medallion in stock!

While the urethane millwork industry hasn't had any large swings in brand names recently, I sure feel like there will be one soon. Ekena Millwork is poised to make a big splash in this industry. I can't wait to see what happens over the next several years!

Products that Ekena sells: brackets, ceiling domes, ceiling medallions, columns, corbels, crosshead and headers, crown moulding, panel moulding, chair rail moulding, finials gable vents, pediments, pilasters, plinths, rosettes, stair brackets, and window and door trim.
www.ekenamillwork.com