and production supervisor Paul Craig did an incredible job organizing and managing everyone. All-in- all we had the entire task completed and were making covers in the new facility in about one week. Was it sheer growth that motivated the move, Ethan? The decision to build our own facility was partially moti- vated by growth and partially motivated by our desire to provide our employees with a completely different work environment experience. DiamondBack sets annual goals for four different bottom lines. ‘Financial’ is of course one, but we also target initia- tives under our ‘environmental bottom line,’ by which we mean both the environment in which we work as well as our impact. We also set goals for ‘internal/employee impact’ and ‘social/customer impact.’ The new facility was motivat- ed by goals in all four of these categories. “The decision to build our own facility was partially motivated by growth and partially motivated by our desire to provide our employees with a completely different work environment experience.” Financially speaking, we simply needed more efficiency and capacity. We’ve been on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies for the past five years and we needed the ability to ship more product in shorter time frames. Environmentally, we wanted to completely change the work conditions for our employees. Our old facility was dark, with low ceilings, lots of walls, and very little air flow. It felt like an old manufacturing building – because it was. Our new facility has 30-foot ceilings, windows for natural light and no partitions on the production floor. When we open up the giant roll up receiving doors, it almost feels like you’re working outdoors. From the ‘internal/employee impact’ side, we designed elements like a giant break room with
motivated to minimize costs when servicing them. The goal of our customer service department isn’t to save money at all turns; it’s to make the customer happy. The old adage is true, you can’t please everyone, and we still have customers that are unhappy from time to time. But we aim to fix any mistake and ensure they love what they bought. “We hope to develop lifelong relationships with our customers and that all starts with the very first experience.” What’s your background with motorsports, the outdoors, and truck culture, Ethan? I think your custom- ers see themselves in you and your staff. Me and my co-founder Matt Chverchko are outdoorsmen, however, Matt is what I would describe as obsessed with hunting and all things outside. We’re not necessary from a ‘truck culture’ as many people might imagine – I mean guys who love big tires, lift kits and to ‘trick out’ their trucks. We have things to do: hunting, fishing, working, riding, etc., and we see our trucks and our covers as tools to help us be ready for anything. DiamondBack truck covers aren’t designed for looks – although most customers love the look. They are designed to lock your stuff more securely than any other cover and then be used to haul or carry anything a customer needs or wants. That’s what we wanted for our own use and that’s what we designed. Speaking of design, how did your move to the Moshan- non Valley Regional Park in Philipsburg work out for you and your team of 55-plus? I understand that you’ve really invested at every stage in this from-scratch and totally modern development. The move was executed about as efficiently as we could have hoped. It was an incredible undertaking to move the entire production facility, as well as cleaning up and rehabbing some of our old rented facility. We were able to mobilize almost our whole staff to tackle the projects and many hands make light work. Our plant manager Pat Hanlon
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2017
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