Last summer, when PGT Industries president Rod Hershberger returned from introducing the newly public Venice-based company and its stock to potential investors around the country, his employees-many of whom are now shareholders-joked with him as he walked among the manufacturing lines. "The first day back, people would say, 'Rod, pick it up. You're working for me now,'" says Hershberger.

It's been a surprising turn of events for a company (now trading on the NASDAQ as PGTI) that started as a scrawl on the back of a napkin in 1980. Today, PGT is the leading impact-resistant window supplier in the country, with a 50 percent share of the market. It is Sarasota and Manatee's largest manufacturing employer, with more than 2,100 employees, and also one of the region's fastest-growing companies, having increased revenues by 20 percent annually over the past eight years. Revenues in 2005 were estimated at $333 million. In the first half of 2006, the company reported record sales of $205 million, an increase of 30 percent over the prior year period, according to Business Wire, with adjusted net income in the first half increasing by 127 percent. Along the way, PGT has created an aggressive, team-driven corporate culture that has enabled it to meet major market challenges: persistent labor shortfalls, a competitive global manufacturing climate and rapid expansion and growth.

Hershberger moved to Venice in the '80s after the first company he worked for, Yoder Drilling in Ohio, rebuffed his request for an ownership stake. Through a friend, he met Paul Hostetler, who had also moved to Venice and, coincidentally, once worked for Yoder. Both had engineering backgrounds, and both loved to tinker. They sketched a porch enclosure design with an aluminum frame and flexible vinyl windows on the back of a cocktail napkin, created a company called Vinyl-Tech and opened with five employees.

By the mid-1980s, glass porch enclosures emerged as the company's biggest competition, so Vinyl-Tech followed suit by offering a glass window. In 1987, when their glass supplier ran behind and Vinyl-Tech had back orders for the first time, the partners began manufacturing their own windows under the name Progressive Glass Technologies.

Eventually Vinyl-Tech expanded into the Dade County building market. Not long after, in 1992, Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida. It was a boon for PGT's business as Dade County solicited industry input to develop a more stringent building code, and PGT was a willing participant.

"It would be nice to say that this was a brilliant marketing idea, but we thought we could dominate Dade and Broward counties and we would learn a lot," Hershberger says. "We shared ideas with DuPont, and had a test lab so when DuPont had ideas, we could test them." Two years later, PGT produced the first window to meet Dade County's new standard.

Florida adopted a tougher statewide building code in 2001. Three years later, in the aftermath of the 2004 hurricane season, cities and states from Texas up the east coast and as far away as Long Island followed suit.

"PGT was in on the early stages," says Rich Walker, executive vice president of the American Architectural Manufacturers Association. "When Dade County first proposed a missile-impact test, they were right on the forefront. They've also been supportive of a unified testing standard for impact. PGT really helped in Florida-and on a national level-to get those tests uniform."

As PGT grew and developed its product line, Hershberger focused on production efficiency. The company encouraged employees to learn every job on the line and to collaborate to reduce wasted time and wasted movements.

In 1997, the company was at a crossroads. Its WinGuard impact-resistant hurricane window product was taking off, and revenues had reached $63 million. Hostetler, who was president at the time, sought out retired Reynolds Aluminum manufacturing executive Randy White in Colorado to help manage the growth. White was intrigued enough to fly to Florida and take a look. "They had the great attitude, the work ethic and the sense of urgency to improve," White says. "Most of the pieces of the puzzle of a successful, highly effective organization were there." What they didn't have, however, was a strategy to grow the company.

"What works when you are small doesn't work when you get bigger," says White, who became PGT's CEO. "They were getting to the awkward teenager stage and wanted to take it to the next level, but still maintain the small company family attitude."

White initiated a branding campaign, hiring Julie Heinsman, former brand manager for Armour Dial. "Our marketing had been technical in nature. There was no brand management," White explains. "Most people couldn't care less what brand of windows and doors go into their homes." Heinsman decided to change that, directing the marketing toward consumers rather than dealers. PGT held focus groups with consumers, changing the name of its products to reflect their function; for example, hurricane/impact products were renamed WinGuard and patio enclosures were renamed EzeBreeze. Homeowners quickly began "asking for PGT by name and brand," says White.