Manufacturing Showcase
Custom Industrial Products, Inc. By: Russ Willcutt
I
t all began with a sketch on a cocktail napkin. Henry Powers and Darlene Taylor, who owned a small construction equipment company in Melbourne, Florida, were attending a regional tradeshow when a customer described a piece of material handling equipment he’d envisioned that far exceeded the traditional baskets that were available on the market at that time. He wanted a multilevel enclosed lift to carry substantial material loads from as high as five stories up to the warehouse floor. Henry and Darlene got busy, and Custom Industrial Products (CIP) introduced the first Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor (VCR) lift in 1995.
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20 IMD DECEMBER 2020
Since the internet had not yet taken off, marketing the product was fairly rudimentary, consisting of two people, a pickup truck, and the Thomas Register. Henry hit the road, traveling from city to city selling the concept of the VRC to prospective buyers while Darlene scouted out potential customers in the next town on his itinerary. As they began to gain traction, the company moved from a 5,000 square-foot facility to 10,000 square feet. It is now headquartered in a 110,000 square-foot manufacturing plant, according to Tom Tenney, the company’s CEO.
