RVBusiness, July/August 2020

RVBusiness If we paint a picture of the company today on its 60th anniversary Adam what in your view is Dexters real strength in terms of product Adam Dexter Well our strength is still primarily trailer running gear which consists of the axles the brakes and related suspension components That by far is where our strength is domestically So the vast majority of the rest of what we do is related to trailers and were talking about towable RVs utility trailers construction equipment trailers horse and stock trailers boat trailers any sort of portable equipment such as chipper shredders air compressors and portable light towers and portable signs and any sort of concrete pumping And we have heavy duty products Much of that expansion dates back to the gas crisis of the 70s when we had to evaluate what could be done differently other than just serving in the RV and manufactured housing industries Thats when the real emphasis around expanding into what we call our utility industrial segment happened That was a kind of a turning point where Dexter really diversified So all things considered Id describe Dexter today as a very well established brand The customers like us and the end consumer likes us We grew on through the 80s and 90s and 2000s And then of course in the late 2000s the downturn happened We consolidated closed several facilities and got smaller But as we did that we were positioned well for the return of the market and we were able to help the Elkhart market respond RVB So the way we understand it Dexter was acquired at one point by a private equity investor Dexter Yes In 2012 we were taken into private equity ownership We were at 311 million in annual revenues at the time and I think we probably had about 850 employees 58 RVBusiness J U L Y A U G U S T 2 0 2 0 Since then weve been able to grow the company through market expansion and organic growth with new products Weve entered into new market segments Weve done acquisitions along the way And really when taken private was really when we got to run the business And Ive told people before its the best thing that ever happened to Dexter to let us have a strategy to run Dexter as Dexter and do the things that were important to our business RVB Acquisitions as youve mentioned have been a significant factor havent they Dexter Yes weve been able to grow substantially through acquisitions At the end of 2015 we created DexKo Global when we brought Dexter together with AL KO Vehicle Technology based in Germany which is a large global supplier of trailer running gear and other related products in Europe DexKo Global is based in Novi Mich and is headed by our CEO Fred Bentley The Al KO Vehicle Technology business is managed out of Kötz Germany and headed by CEO Harald Hiller So total employment in the companies is around 5500 And revenues are up slightly over 15 billion So thats a good growth story from 311 million to 15 billion during that time Thats a lot to digest if you think about it And thats where were at today with the overall business RVB There was we assume a pattern to those acquisitions Dexter When we think about how we run our business weve got a good strong approach on how we do things And some of the acquisitions were very synergistic We were buying businesses that had directly aligned products And we were able to acquire the company and make our business bigger and bring their businesses in underneath ours We can make components faster than you can buy them from China so you dont have this long lead time So there are a lot of synergies that allow us to bring those companies into our fold and use them to our collective advantage Bryan Thursby When you RVB were recounting some of the acquisitions and the headcount and how some of those milestones were pretty incredible dustries which provided the capital he needed to expand Dexters story continued with Richard Dexter Leonards son and Adams father on board as president and in 1968 the company opening a key component manufacturing facility in Albion Ind That plant said Dexter is very much a key part of our business where we manufacture our safety critical brakes and brake drums as well as many more axles and attaching parts and componentry right here domestically Were the only fully domestic producer of axle components More expansion followed in the 70s and 80s as the company introduced larger capacity utility grade axles for different types of trailers while diversifying into the industrial utility space Still well known for its RV related products Dexter also pursued a wider towable trailer market including componentry for small open deck utility cargo and agricultural trailers Thats how the business developed through the early years added Adam Dexter during a late May Zoom interview that included Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Bryan Thursby Theres been a lot of consistent leadership at Dexter Ive been running the business since the beginning of 2008 I took over from Mike Jones who ran the company for 22 years and prior to that my father ran the business He took over from his father So its a pretty consistent approach to how things are done And I think its helped us focus on what we do to provide quality and customer service An ambitious growth company Dexter and its parent from 2013 to 2020 completed 23 acquisitions with three more largely outside of the RV space in just the last six to 12 months Whatever comes next Adam Dexter believes the firms competitive edge stems from an underlying Dexter difference originally instilled by his grandfather involving quality reliability delivery and breadth of product plus after the sale support service These are things that were paramount to the business then and they still are now said Dexter Theyre a cornerstone of our business Here are the edited highlights of RVBs recent interview