In 1982, Norman Gage Jr. opened Georgia Time Recorder in downtown Norcross, and this year the company – now known as GTR Business Systems and now located in Lawrenceville – celebrates its 40th anniversary with an emphasis both on service and family.
Gage’s time clock business experience began in Massachusetts, and he played a key role in the development of the solid-state master clock system. In 1974 Gage was transferred to Georgia, a move that immediately paid dividends as he established business relationships and sold systems to the Peachtree Plaza Hotel, CNN and a host of school districts, grocery stores, golf clubs and hospitals, to name but a few.
Upon founding Georgia Time Recorder, Gage’s systems provided a presence throughout metro Atlanta with clients like the Gwinnett County School District and Northside Hospital. Other early GTR customers included Big Star and Piggly Wiggly grocery stores, Georgia Expo, Formax Manufacturing, Discovery Point Daycare and Gwinnett Greenhouse, among many others.
In 2007, Gage’s daughter, Andrea Drath, joined GTR and began learning all aspects of the business at her father’s knee. A Massachusetts native, Drath moved to Gwinnett County with her family as a child and later earned a degree in piano performance from the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music.
In 2011, Drath assumed the leadership at GTR, enabling her father to retire a few years later. In the time that GTR has operated in Gwinnett County, the company has served more than 15,000 clients and employed about 150 people, including family members.
GTR has twice been honored in the community, receiving the Best of Gwinnett award in 2018 and again in 2021. Other GTR clients through the years have included Grady Health System, Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport, MARTA, Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Morehouse College, GATX Railway, Emory University, Georgia State University, Georgia National Fairgrounds, Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation, Collins Hill Christian School and Killian Hill Christian School.
The company holds membership in a variety of organizations, including the National Time Equipment Association, the Georgia Society of Healthcare Engineers, the Georgia School Board Association, the Georgia Superior Clerk of Court Cooperative Authority, the Constitutional Officers Association of Georgia and the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance.
Drath is not allowing the company to rest on its past laurels and said GTR plans to grow its client base by expanding into more markets in the Southeast and continuing its drive to establish and develop the most up-to-date solutions to the market.