Under the leadership of President Robert S. Toth, Jr., Dexter Research Center enjoyed record growth and increased market share in 2005 as it met the challenge of global competitors and new and competitive priced products manufactured offshore.

Thanks to new products—including the world’s smallest infrared thermopile detector—aggressive marketing and industry-leading customer service, Dexter Research added 62 new customers from around the world and grew its revenue 22 per cent.

The ST60R Micro measures .161″ (4.09 mm) in diameter and is believed to be the world’s smallest infrared thermopile detector. These detectors offer flat spectral response from UV to far Infrared with signal output also being linear from 10-6 to 0.1 W/cm². Operating range is from -50°C to 100°C (-58 to 212°F) with short exposure up to 125°C (257°F) being possible.

The push for new products and new customers began in 2004 when Rob Toth and his father, founder Bob Toth, PhD, decided that their family’s Ann Arbor-based company would not fall victim to Globalism’s outpouring of cheap detectors from off-shore manufacturing centers. Rob felt that his company had several brand advantages. No other infrared device outperforms a thermopile as an affordable detector.

DRC has achieved record sales growth since 2004

In addition, Dexter Research products:

• Are all built to military specifications.
• Are 100% tested—a mission critical advantage for many customers who face product liability exposures.
• Are integrated into the second Mars Mission.
• Have flown multiple missions on the Space Shuttle.
• Have mapped the ozone layer of the earth.
• Are found in hospital operating rooms around the world.
• Are used widely in industrial process control.
• Are the preferred detectors for non contact temperature sensing.
• Are being adopted by forward thinking security system designers.

Rob remains confident of Dexter Research’s superior abilities to collaborate with its customers—a hallmark of the company’s culture that made fortunes for over 100 entrepreneurs—a competitive advantage that foreign competitors would find difficult to duplicate.

Beyond that, the company’s manufacturing process gives it an impossible-to-refute edge:

• Dexter Research’s build-to-order technique allows the thermopile to easily accommodate any customer’s design challenges.

Aggressive strategies are being adopted to grow the top and bottom lines. At Rob’s direction, the company is upgrading, refining and integrating business process to further optimize production from quote to delivery, including the adoption of lean manufacturing and the initiation of ISO 9000 registration.

Dexter Research has re-branded itself to reflect its product leadership and adopted the theme: “We’re Everywhere It Matters.” A new Web site communicates an industry-leading promotion introduced at the 2005 Sensors Expo in Chicago. New advertising, merchandising, public relations releases and selling scripts are all tightly integrated for content and graphic appeal. The new imagination in marketing has produced record response from trade shows. The show booth is set up in the company lobby and the merchandising displays are posted around the hallways.

Dexter Research’s employees have responded favorably to the new energy they find coming down from the top and reciprocate with bottom up ideas to improve processes throughout the company. Changes have been made to inventory control and supply chain management. As normal worker attrition occurs, employees are promoted from within as replacements and new people are hired as needed. Manufacturing efficiency has climbed significantly. Highly motivated, key employees are reporting to work an hour early.

Overall, the company has added 62 new customers. The results: Revenue is up 22% for year 2005. Scrap is reduced by 13%, even as production increases total 24%. And no jobs were lost at the Michigan plant.

Perhaps most amazingly of all, this outstanding performance has been achieved even as Dexter Research had to pass through the typical gut-wrenching transition to a new ERP system.

At then end of Q1 for 2006, Dexter Research is ahead of last year’s performance and on track to achieve another 20%-plus growth. The company remains committed to operating in the State of Michigan.

For more information, contact:

Rob Toth, President
Dexter Research Center
7300 Huron River Drive
Dexter, MI 48130
Tel +1 734 426 3921

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 10th, 2006 at 6:44 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.