Michigan Manufacturer Sets Thirty Year Sales Record
Business news stories sometimes seem reserved for burgeoning startups, but a Michigan manufacturer of global technology just broke a thirty-year sales record the hard way. Through innovation and organization, Dexter Research Center, Inc. followed two consecutive years of record sales with a chart-busting thirty-four percent increase in Q1 of 2007.
The infrared thermopile products of the privately-held company are making American troops and pilots safer in oversea combat. Its detectors, which lead the industry for design with a carefully guarded manufacturing process, play a key role at exhaust emission testing centers, in greenhouse gardening and airplanes, in kitchen appliances and steel factories, ear thermometers and mine safety, weather forecasting and earth measurement. And its tiny detectors, which never sleep yet require no external power, are making important contributions to the Mars missions.
In a state full of bad business news, the brain behind the breakout is Robert Toth, Jr., son of the founder and a quiet spoken man who knows his technology, and a market that spans five continents, like no one else. A soccer coach and fan of Detroit Tigers, Pistons and Wings sports teams, Rob figured that the way to dominate the league in which his company plays was to assemble a dream team of his own.
Taking full advantage of Michigan’s deep talent bench, Rob most recently enticed Kurt Hochrein, a Michigan-based veteran of a major Asian robotics supplier who brings an enviable record of customer collaboration that spans three countries. Earlier, Rob recruited RFD Insight consultant Wes Arrington, a turnaround expert and an internationally noted veteran of General Motors and EDS, to bring world class strategy and operational improvements to the volume manufacture of Dexter’s infrared thermopile detectors. Rob added a high-level product and marketing consultant Lawry Dolph, a verteran of some of the world’s largest advertising agencies and a consultant with an enviable record of driving up stock valuation.
These three joined Rob’s earlier draft choices, Victor Banta, a remote sensing and digital imaging expert who, in addition to a comprehensive grasp of infrared technology, also had experience saving habitat measuring technology deep in the Amazon, and William McMillan who brought a major retailer’s exceptional customer service to Dexter Research’s account team. Veteran manufacturing boss and senior ski patrol Steven Kasper was put in charge of making sure that no competitor delivered a higher quality product.
Rob’s only non-Michigan hire is Wayne Baer as Director of Research and Development. Calling a Chicago suburb home, Mr. Baer is a veteran of Motorola, where he managed Bluetooth activities for their Automotive and Telematics Sector, including a new SIG profile group (HFP), HW/SW design, production, and customer interfaces. Milestones include the first in-car Bluetooth device and first in-flight Bluetooth phone call. Dig a little deeper and you find that Wayne is a graduate of Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has a long-time affiliation with Professor Ken Wise at The University of Michigan Solid State Electronics Lab Center for Integrated Sensors and Circuits.
“You bring together talent of this caliber and create an environment where they can discover how to leverage one another skills and experience,” Mr. Toth noted of his executive roster. “Last year, we went to the largest sensor show in North America and were mobbed by prospects. When we returned home, we had a fifty-four percent response to our follow up direct marketing initiative. No wonder our sales sky-rocketed.
“Am I surprised by what these people can do?” Mr. Toth asks. “No. Michigan is full of exceptional people, and I have been lucky enough to have found some of the best. They have set the bar pretty high for themselves, and it will be fun to watch them try to top their own performance.
“I wouldn’t recommend that anyone else try to take us on in the infrared thermopile business,” Mr. Toth adds, “but for any other company trying to turn things around in a tough global market, I highly recommend shopping for talent in Michigan. They think big. And that’s proven to be the secret of overcoming our competitors in the US and Asia,” Toth observes.