Business View Magazine | July 2019

35 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2019 Still innovating B estbath of Caldwell, Idaho, an internationally-leading design and manufacturing firm, began life in 1969 as Component Structures, Inc., a manufacturer of commodity-based bath and shower units for manufactured housing developments. The company was purchased in the early ‘80s by one of its plant managers, Gary Multanen, who revolutionized the entire industry in 1993 when he and his engineering staff developed the first multi-piece, tub replacement, barrier-free shower unit, turning a traditional commodity product into a specialized architectural creation that could be installed quickly by both contractors and homeowners. Today, Bestbath is celebrating its 50th anniversary as the first company that pioneered universal design in bathing. The family-owned firm has 175 employees and is run by Multanen’s two children, CEO and Co-owner Megan, and her brother, COO and Co-owner Jay, who attributes the company’s lasting success to its founding ethos: improving lives and empowering people. One way in which Bestbath empowers people is by taking care of its employees in a way that Jay maintains is “far and away different from what is normal by today’s standards. We have a profit share program that pays our entry level employees, first, and then the leads, and then the supervisors, and then the managers,” he explains. “And