Thombert finds success focusing on one market

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Some manufacturers say it's crazy to focus heavily on one market.

But Thombert Inc. doesn't fall into that category. That's exactly what it did decades ago. The company stopped producing a variety of products and turned its full attention to polyurethane forklift tires and wheels.

While others may have scoffed, “slowly but surely we built a solid operation,” said Thombert Chairman Walt Smith, who has been associated with the business since the mid-1960s when he worked part time at the firm's Newton, Iowa, plant while attending high school.

He did the same during his collegiate years and joined Thombert full time after graduating from college.

Since then, he has helped guide the business as it attained steady and continuous growth, especially since the late 1970s-early 1980s when it switched from a being a custom molder and fabricator of products to one that focused strictly on one niche segment of the industry.

Thombert started manufacturing the wheels and tires in the 1970s and built up a strong reputation in that segment before it made that its sole focus.

“That's when we started producing and selling wheels and tires to the electric forklift and truck industries and their dealers,” Smith said. “We've been very careful since then because we knew this would work.”

For the most part, it has been a pretty steady ride since, except for a recession or two.

Today, “Thombert is doing great,” Smith said at the Polyurethane Manufacturers Association annual meeting and supplier showcase, held April 26-28 in Charlotte. It continues to expand, mostly organically. The company is led by longtime President Dick Davidson, who Smith said “has done an outstanding job over the years.”

It has added machinery to boost capacity and the firm's capabilities regularly at its plants in Newton and Brooklyn, Iowa, over the last decade. The firm's most recent addition, machinery added in 2014, cost about a quarter of a millon dollars.

Thombert has invested 78 percent of its pre-tax profit in the business during the last two years, adding robots to do the heavy lifting in machining and metal preparation, Smith said. Its most recent addition of a machining center, costing an estimated $750,000, saves the equivalent of three full time positions, he added.

“Our dedication to productivity and quality keeps customers coming back,” he said.

Thombert expands regularly, Smith said, because “we believe in vertical integration. Our combined square footage—at the Newton and Brooklyn factories—is 110,000 square feet. Polyurethane wheels and tires for forklifts has been a great business for us.”

During the last six years, the company's sales have been steadily rising. “Customers keep coming back to Thombert because of the values instilled by Thomas and Robert Smith, the company's founders and namesake,” according to Smith. “They absolutely believed in quality and ethical treatment of all business partners.”

Robert was Walt Smith's father, Thomas was his uncle. They launched the company in 1946 not long after Robert returned from active military duty during World War II. They built the company from the ground up, and Robert ran the firm until Walt took the helm. For the most part, it has prospered for more than four decades.

During the last recession of 2008-09, the firm experienced some fall in demand. Some big box retailers that use electric trucks began cutting back on orders, he said, but the downturn didn't last long.

“Over the long haul,” Smith said, “the percentage of electric trucks has increased slowly while gas vehicles have been decreasing.” Because of that, the company is looking to expand further over the next few years.

Another big market for the company's polyurethane wheels and tires is the food industry. Through good and bad times, food is always needed, he noted.

Thombert, the sixth company licensed by Mobay to produce polyurethane in 1958, intends to grow further in the next few years, he said. “We've plowed everything we made back into the business. We pride ourselves in being very good at what we do.

“It's better to be very good at one thing than so-so at a lot of things. As our tagline says, we're the longest ride.”