Corporate
We are a leading North American manufacturer and marketer of non-powered lawn and garden products including tools and decorative accessories.
Products
Utilizing a variety of brand names, we manufacture and market one of the broadest product portfolios in the non-powered lawn and garden industry. We currently offer 10 distinct product lines, anchored by two core product categories: long handle tools and wheelbarrows.
We believe that, as a result of our high product quality, high level of customer service and strong customer relationships, we have earned market-leading positions in the following five product lines: long handle tools, wheeled products, planters, snow tools, and striking tools.
The following is a description of each of our product lines:
Long Handle Tools: Our long handle tool product offering consists of shovels, spades, scoops, rakes, hoes, cultivators, weeders, post hole diggers, scrapers, edgers, forks and hooks. We offer numerous types of heads, including plastic and steel, and various handles manufactured from wood, engineered polymers and fiberglass. We currently offer over 1,600 SKUs in this category. Long handle tools are marketed under numerous brand names including Ames, True Temper, Jackson Professional Tools, Union Tools, Razor-Back, Garant and more.
Wheelbarrows and Carts: We manufacture a full line of wheelbarrows, primarily under the True Temper, Jackson and Garant brand names. We offer both poly and steel wheelbarrows at a full range of price points for a multitude of tasks.
We also manufacture lawn carts, used for transporting everything from plants and mulches to garden debris, sticks and rocks. Lawn carts have molded-in tool holders for ease of carrying tools. Their flat bottom design is useful for carrying plants and easy dumping. Our lawn carts are marketed under the Ames brand.
Planters and Décor: With our acquisition of Dynamic Design, we became a supplier of plastic and foam flower pots, outdoor planters, window boxes, indoor planters and hanging baskets. We source most of our pots and planters line from manufacturing facilities abroad. All of our pots and planters are sold under the Dynamic Design brand. Recently, for both indoor and outdoor use, we introduced the Ceramix line of planters designed to look and feel like glazed and polished ceramic pots, but resist chipping and breaking. We also added new lines of roto-molded poly planters and biodegradable planters. We offer a wide variety of poly décor accessories, including edging, fencing, splash blocks and trellises marketed under the Ames brand.
Hose Reels: We sell rotating, portable, freestanding and swivel hose reels for the home gardener and industrial customer. Hose reels are designed to keep hoses from getting tangled, while providing compact storage of hoses when not in use. Our hose reels are available in portable, wheeled and wall-mount versions. We also offer a line of patio and deck hose reels. We market our hose reels under the Ames brand name.
Snow Tools: We manufacture and distribute numerous types of snow tools, including shovels, pushers, roof rakes, sled scoops, and ice scrapers, with plastic, steel and aluminum heads. We recently introduced our new SnoBoss multipurpose shovel which clears snow significantly faster than traditional shovels and is ergonomically designed to reduce fatigue while shovelling. We make these products under the Ames, Garant and True Temper brand names.
Striking Tools: We offer a wide range of striking tools, including axes, picks, mallets, mauls, wood splitters and sledgehammers. These products are marketed under the True Temper, Jackson Professional Tools, UnionTools, and Garant brand names.
We also manufacture an extensive line of repair handles for lawn and garden tools, such as long handle tools, snow tools and striking tools. Our repair handles are marketed under our True Temper and Garant brand names.
Pruning Tools: We offer a broad line of pruning tools, including grass, pruning, lopping, hedge and pole pruning tools, as well as a variety of trimming saws and cutting tools.
Hand Tools: Our hand tools include short-handled garden trowels, weeders, transplanters, cultivators, and our multi-purpose 7-in-1 Planter’s Buddy tool.
Garden Hoses: We supply light, medium and heavy-duty garden hoses.
Hound Dog Tools: We offer a line of specialty lawn care and gardening tools under the Hound Dog brand. These tools fit specific needs and provide chemical free alternatives for keeping the yard and garden beautiful.
Product Development
Our product development efforts focus on new products and product line extensions.
We develop products through our in-house engineering staff and through our relationships with a number of outside product engineering and design firms. In addition, starting in 2002, we established "core teams" to introduce new products more quickly and cost efficiently. The core teams, headed by each product category's marketing director, consist of eight members, one from each functional department. These core teams are empowered to execute the respective category's strategic plan.
Sales & Marketing
Our sales organization is structured by distribution channel in the U.S. and by country internationally. In the U.S., we have dedicated a team of sales professionals to each of our large retail customers. We maintain offices adjacent to each of our three largest customers' headquarters, as well as in-house dedicated sales analysts. In addition, we have assigned sales professionals to our domestic wholesale and industrial distribution channels. We also have sales teams located in Canada and Ireland to handle our Canadian and European sales efforts, respectively.
To assist our clients in marketing our products and responding to new customer trends, the core teams, headed by a product-marketing director focused on each product line. Each team is responsible for implementing category-specific marketing strategies, including SKU rationalization and support for key accounts.
We offer internal graphic capabilities to design catalogs, labels, point of sale and other sales materials. In addition, we monitor point of sale and sell-through activity to identify product opportunities and develop merchandizing programs to help our customers achieve their sales objectives. We also work closely with external research firms, design studios and product engineering organizations to identify and capitalize on emerging consumer and professional trends.
About Griffon Corporation
The Ames Companies, Inc. was purchased by Griffon Corporation in September 2010. Griffon Corporation (the “Company” or “Griffon”), is a diversified management and holding company that conducts business through wholly-owned subsidiaries. The Company oversees the operations of its subsidiaries, allocates resources among them and manages their capital structures. The Company provides direction and assistance to its subsidiaries in connection with acquisition and growth opportunities as well as in connection with divestitures. Griffon also seeks out, evaluates and, when appropriate, will acquire additional businesses that offer potentially attractive returns on capital to further diversify itself. Griffon currently conducts its operations through Telephonics Corporation, Clopay Building Products Company and Clopay Plastic Products Company. For more information on the Company and its operating subsidiaries, please see the Company's website at www.griffoncorp.com.
In 2012, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The rules require all public companies to annually disclose whether any of their products contain “3TG” minerals (Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten and Gold) that may have originated from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo or certain adjoining countries.Griffon Corporation ("Griffon") has designed a Conflict Minerals compliance initiative, with a governance committee, to implement a consistent, company-wide due diligence process. Griffon and its subsidiaries are working with our supply chain partners to comply with applicable SEC regulations by:
- Educating our employees and suppliers about conflict minerals
- Requesting key suppliers to identify which of their products that we purchase contain tin, tungsten, tantalum or gold, and, where applicable,to validate the country of origin of these minerals; and
- Preparing for an independent audit of Griffon’s conflict minerals approach and processes, when required.
As the international supply chain for these 3TG minerals is complex, we recognize that due diligence efforts required are challenging and are expected to take considerable time to complete. We are committed to conducting business in a lawful manner and supporting our customers' reporting requirements.
For additional information, please call (888) 298-4032.
