Concepts by Design designs, manufactures and installs custom cabinets and closets for the luxury market. With a team of 45 people, including designers and skilled woodworkers, officials say clients are invited to take a peek at the start-tofinish process in the 42,000-squarefoot showroom and facility where they can envision their dream project come true. SBJ: What inspired you and your husband to join the cabinet industry? Shelley Wehner: We purchased a small shop with four employees and had zero cabinet-making experience. My husband was wanting to do his own thing, and we were researching companies for sale and he thought, this sounds like me, I like working with my hands. We’re both former college athletes, so we’re competitive. We’ve learned the trade from scratch and grown our business by going to conferences, learning from others and having a can-do attitude. SBJ: What is one of your most memorable projects? Wehner: We did a project a few years back that had a ton of secret compartments. We do a lot of hidden bookcases, but this house had hidden compartments everywhere. A bookcase retracted with the push of a button, and it would slide into a pocket. There were a lot of firsts with this job, which created some challenges. We don’t shy away from challenges; we invite them as this is how we learn, grow and refine our craft every day. SBJ: How do you market your products? Wehner: The majority of our business is word-of-mouth and referral based. We do more brand marketing than lead generation, but we started this year doing more lead generation on the closet side of our business. There’s a lot of growth opportunity in the closet sector, and we’re just now kicking off a campaign to spotlight closets. SBJ: What are the key products and growth areas? Wehner: Cabinets, closets and millwork. The cabinetry side has grown organically through repeat business and is our bread and butter. The closet side has also organically grown through our cabinet clients. Our growth focus this year is the closet market. Closets are less labor intensive to produce, and they don’t distract our production from doing custom cabinet millwork. There is tons of opportunity for growth as closets are not heavily marketed in our region. It is also great because the majority of the public can find an affordable closet system that works for them. SBJ: How do you recruit talent? Wehner: Recruiting talent is challenging. We have our professional staff, sales and technical designers who work with clients, and then skilled tradesmen. We reach out to (Missouri State University) for design students, offering internships. We also reach out to people interested in developing a craft and nurturing new students into the industry from the local high schools that have woodworking programs. It is great to get young talent that we can train from the ground up. We are also fortunate to have a great culture and many employees come from our employees referring people to work here. Interview by Contributing Writer Nicole Chilton. COOLEST THINGS Owners: Matt and Shelley Wehner Employees: 45 Founded: 2007 Web: CabinetConceptsByDesign.com Instagram/Facebook: @conceptsbydesign 2023 revenue: $5.75 million Product pricing: It ranges, as every project is unique. Custom cabinets, closets and millwork Shelley Wehner Officials at Digital Monitoring Products say the XR550 Security Control Panel is a fixture in prominent national retail chains, including every Starbucks in the U.S. and Canada. It’s also the system of choice for 18 of the top 20 banks, they say, with placement in 30,000 branches from financial giants J.P. Morgan Chase to Wells Fargo, and it’s trusted by government agencies for top-level secure communication information facility protection. SBJ: When did the XR550 first come on the market? Mark Hillenburg: The XR550 is the seventh generation of our flagship control panel line, which launched around 2016. However, DMP started in the 1980s, and the control panel designs have gotten bigger and more powerful with more features as they go through time. The XR550 is the latest and greatest of that. We call it the flagship: It’s our main product, it’s what we sell the most of, and it pays all the bills. SBJ: What changes were made to this version? Hillenburg: It is bigger, better, faster and less expensive. It has roughly 20 times faster processing power than its predecessor. It does up to 96 doors of access control, whereas its predecessor did 32. And it has more of the hardware built onto the platform than its previous versions. This makes it so customers are buying less, installing less and getting more bang for the buck. SBJ: Who are some of the biggest customers of this product? Hillenburg: While it can be used in residential for really large homes, it’s mainly used in commercial and industrial applications. DMP products can be found in the Pentagon and some of the offices of our nation’s top leaders, plus national footprint banks and retail establishments. (Recently), the Secretary of Defense was on Fox News, being interviewed from his office, and there was a DMP keypad on the wall directly behind him, connected to an XR550. SBJ: How does manufacturing this product in the Ozarks impact the local economy? Hillenburg: We employ about 375 employees and around 300 live here in the area. Being near several great universities, we can find great local, homegrown talent here in the Ozarks and oftentimes have great luck hiring former Ozarkians, who have maybe moved away and are ready to come back. Our jobs pay above average, and DMP is also a big supporter of local nonprofit organizations. SBJ: Any idea when the eighth generation will come out? Hillenburg: The microprocessor is what drives the lifespan of electronics like this. So, there comes a time where this microprocessor will start to age out, and someone will have one that is smaller, more powerful and cost less. That’s the point where you then figure out how much money is it going to be to adopt to a new processor family. Then that becomes the next generation of control panels. Interview by Contributing Writer Nicole Chilton. FEB. 12-18, 2024 SPRINGFIELD BUSINESS JOURNAL · 17 Owner: Rick Britton Employees: 370 Founded: 1975 Web: DMP.com Instagram/Facebook/X/TikTok: : @dmpalarms 2023 revenue: Would not disclose Product pricing: $650-$1,250 XR550 Intrusion, Access Control and Fire Alarm Panel Mark Hillenburg DIGITAL MONITORING PRODUCTS INC. CONCEPTS BY DESIGN INC.
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