Overhead Door Corp. Dallas-based company buys innovative leader in fire and security doors »Dallas Innovates

Won-Door FireGuard doors play “an important but inconspicuous role” on Paul L. Foster’s business and innovation campus at Baylor University. According to a company case study, they open the connection between four floors of the campus on which the Hankamer School of Business is located. [Image via Won-Door]

Overhead Door Corporation, which invented the first “upward-looking door” in 1921 and the first electric garage door opener in 1925, continued its long pioneering history with the acquisition of Won-Door Corporation earlier this week.

The acquisition will expand Overhead Door Corporation’s leadership position in innovative pedestrian access solutions. Won-Door will continue to operate under the existing brand and become part of a strategic business unit, all of which will work with Horton Automatics.

Won-Door Corporation, a leader in accordion-style fire and security door solutions, is known for its own innovations in life and property saving products. According to a press release, the wide-open fire protection and security access solutions are popular with architects and builders alike. All contributions

Headquarters in LewisvilleOverhead Door has three departments focusing on vehicle, pedestrian and electronic access solutions. is a subsidiary of Toyko-based Sanway Holdings Corp. and provides garage door and other access solutions for some of the most trusted brands in North America These include Overhead Door, Wayne Dalton, Genie, Horton Automatics, and TODCO.

“The addition of Won-Door to the Overhead Door Corporation family improves our pedestrian access solutions, particularly fire and safety, while expanding our addressable market,” he said Kelly Terry, President and CEO of Overhead Door Corporation, in a statement.

The acquisition of Won-Door is in line with the company’s goal of creating secure access for generations, says Terry.

Terry envisions a collaboration for the brands and plans to leverage the strengths of the company and its distributors to accelerate the rollout of Won-Door’s innovative pedestrian access solutions. As the Won Door team on board, “we are committed to maintaining the unique strengths that make them successful,” he says.

Won-Door Chairman and CEO Ron Smart believes The deal will “have many long-term benefits for our employees and customers”. The combined efforts of the companies “will create a strong platform for growth and expand our leadership position in the market,” he said in a statement.

Won-Door was founded in Utah in 1962 and began work on a double-track folding wall. This door was seen as so revolutionary that a customer suggested the company name Won-Door “because this door is really WONDERFUL,” according to the company’s website. Today, Won-Door’s accordion-style folding doors offer innovative fire, security and acoustic doors for the elevator lobby, occupancy separation and smoke control.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Deloitte Corporate Finance acted as exclusive financial advisor to Won-Door Corporation.

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