“In addition to renovating our current facilities, we will also greatly increase our production area as well as our customer service call center,” said George Rohde, president.

The addition will also create space for a state-of-the-art training center for the company's Basco University, which offers installers intensive, hands-on classes on the proper techniques and methods for best installing glass shower doors and enclosures. The courses address how to correctly measure for the doors, how to check for out of square, out of plumb conditions, selecting the proper tools and product differentiation. The new facility will have an expanded training lab with installation conditions comparable to what may exist on the job site. Graduates receive a certificate of completion. During construction, Basco will continue to offer its training sessions, with instructors teaching classes at customers' sites.

Completion of the new building is expected by fall 2004, in time for Basco's 50th anniversary celebration.

Pictured at the groundbreaking are (left to right) Basco's Steve Lotz, vice president manufacturing; G. William Rohde, chairman; and George W. Rohde, president/CEO; with John McCurley, Mason, Ohio council member; John Harris, president, The Chamber of Northeast Cincinnati; and Charlene Pelfrey, vice mayor of Mason, Ohio.