All Covered and Ready to Roll

Robert James Enterprises Inc. has put on a lot of miles since it rolled out 28 years ago as a children’s furniture manufacturer in California.

Founders Robert and Cheryl Follis moved the company to Missouri 15 years ago and began sewing accessories for 18-wheeler trucks from a shop in the backyard of their Niangua home. Those products included winter fronts and summer bug screens for truck grills, as well as fuel tank covers.

When Dan and Dana Novakovich bought the company nine years ago, they moved it to a 7,200-square-foot plant in Marshfield and expanded the customer base to include some of the largest trucking companies in the U.S., including International Truck and Engine Corp., Empire Chrome Shop and Iowa 80 Group Inc. The company also manufactures Shuttercover Trim to Fit, a custom cover to fit whole-house fans developed by Rick Hedgpeth, owner and president of RH Manufacturing in Fair Grove.

The economy initially hit Robert James Enterprises hard, forcing a temporary layoff of two of its six employees last year, but Dan Novakovich says that due to the unusually cold winter, which has spurred sales of the winter covers for trucks, the growth of the Shuttercover product and quick action to reduce overhead, those employees are back to work, and Novakovich has goals of adding employees this year.

From security to entrepreneurship
Novakovich has a background in law enforcement. He’s worked for the Missouri attorney general’s office investigating Medicaid fraud, as well as for the Springfield Police Department and as manager of corporate security for Bass Pro Shops. Dana Novakovich worked for the state of Missouri as a case manager when they decided to purchase Robert James Enterprises.

“We were looking for an opportunity to own our own business and thought it would be a good fit,” says Dan Novakovich, noting that he had a vision to expand the company nationally and into Canada.

Novakovich says they eventually built a customer base to include approximately 200 accounts from trucking companies, which allowed the company to grow to six employees.

The company became so well known among trucking companies for accessories, Novakovich says he never developed a marketing budget. “We got all of our business through word-of-mouth,” he says.

Novakovich declined to disclose revenues, but he says his company’s sales grew approximately 5 percent in 2007 and 2008 and dropped 10 percent in 2009.  

During past slowdowns, Novakovich found ways to diversify the product lines. “We’re always trying to find new products to make,” he says. “We do the research, look at the products, and see if there’s a need.”

One of the expansions led the company to manufacture custom voting ballot machine bags and ballot transfer bags that allows poll workers to move ballots from polling station to polling station after they are collected.

However, Novakovich knew it would take more than adding product lines to get the company back on track.

For the first time, he began marketing his trucking products, which make up about 85 percent of his business. “We’ve been making cold calls,” Novakovich says.

He also found a way to save on overhead costs. “We’ve saved about $10,000 just in recycling shipping boxes,” he adds.

Shuttercover birth
A decade ago, Hedgpeth of RH Manufacturing was living in a home with a whole-house fan and noticed a lot of heat escaped through the fan during the winter.

“The only obvious solution then was to put a blanket, plywood or plastic over it,” he says. “None of those solutions was easy.”

The idea for the Shuttercover Trim to Fit was born. Hedgpeth produced the insulated covers himself for a while and also contracted with another manufacturer before discovering Robert James Enterprises through a colleague.

Hedgpeth was impressed with the 150 years combined of sewing experience among Robert James employees, as well as the company’s ability to ship his covers directly to customers.

Hedgpeth handles the marketing of the product, which is sold at Lowe’s Home Improvement, Westlake, Ace Hardware, W.W. Grainger, Sutherlands, Meek’s and Herrman Lumber stores. Hedgpeth says that Robert James Enterprises manufactured and shipped about 30,000 of the covers last year, and he expects sales to increase by 125 percent this year.

“That’s part of the reason we’re projecting our business to grow 10 percent this year and our employees can handle whatever comes their way,” adds Novakovich. “We expect 2010 to be a banner year.”[[In-content Ad]]