PHILIPSBURG — DiamondBack Truck Covers, based in Philipsburg’s Moshannon Valley Regional Business Park, is making waves in both the local community and in the small business world. And a lot of people are taking notice.
U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard, recently presented DiamondBack with the Small Business Administration’s Pennsylvania Small Business of the Year Award, adding more accolades to a company that’s spent six consecutive years on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America. DiamondBack was also voted the “Best Place to Work” by local readers of the Philipsburg Journal last year.
“All of that is because of the team that is here — this amazing group of people we’ve pulled together,” said Ben Eltz, DiamondBack’s CEO. “Most people would say, ‘Your goals are crazy. You can’t move into a new building, launch a new website, totally rebrand your logos and such, and grow by 50 percent.’ That was 2017. We did all that in one year. Most people would say ‘You’re insane,’ but we just have a great group of people who say, ‘Sounds like a challenge, let’s go for it.’”
DiamondBack launched in 2003 when co-founders Ethan Wendle and Matt Chverchko were engineering students at Penn State. What sets Diamond-Back truck covers apart is the product’s ability to tophaul.
“Most covers, once you put them on your truck, you can’t haul anything,” Eltz said.
“They’re not weight-bearing. With our cover, you can put an ATV, or a load of wood, or a couch up top, strap it down, and use your bed as you usually would. That was our initial claim to fame. Now, most people are buying these covers for security and because they’re weather-proof. Our covers are metal; most are made of vinyl or plastics.”
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
Eltz said the company’s first 10 years were “a struggle, like most small businesses.”
During the recession of 2008, DiamondBack make the decision to eliminate most of its dealers and distributors. Now, nearly 70 percent of sales are direct to the end-user, which Eltz said is “kind of disruptive to how our industry usually distributes.”
DiamondBack “really started to pick up speed in 2009,” said Eltz. “The product really took off across the country, and we started to grow very fast.”
The truck covers, Eltz says, act as a “moving billboard” that customers see at gas stations and in driveways. According to Eltz, “You don’t need to incentivize our customers to talk about their covers. They love them. It’s like they found something other people don’t know about, and they want to tell everybody about it.”
COMMUNITY CREDIT
Today, DiamondBack employs 75 people and operates out of a pristine, 40,000-square-foot facility on land the company purchased from the Moshannon Valley Economic Development Partnership (MVEDP). Diamond-Back had previously been headquartered at the MVEDP’s smaller Moshannon Valley Enterprise Center (MVEC).
“When we were back at the cigar factory (MVEC), it was very important in the early stages that we had that low-cost rent area and the ability to contract and expand, when we had bad years and good years,” Eltz said. “That’s really hard to do when you own a building. Stan (LaFuria, MVEDP executive director) is super flexible and worked with us on that. And then, this land, which we bought from MVEDP, came along with some Pennsylvania tax incentives, so that was really helpful to keep us here longterm.”
“When getting a new business set up, the people involved must be very aware of every way to keep costs low,” LaFuria said. “The MVEDP was willing to lease some space to Ethan and Matt at a very low rental rate. We continued for years to help them by keeping the rent at a very low rate, (and) we provided loan financing for one of their projects, too.”
During the Small Business of the Year Award reception LaFuria said, “One major takeaway for me … was Ethan’s emotions when he talked about how there have been so many people who have helped to lift them up along the way of their business journey. … They credit their success to the people who have helped them get to where they are today.”
Chuck Gross has worked at DiamondBack as a welder for nearly two years. He said the company is a “nicer, cleaner” place than most manufacturing facilities, and the employers “treat you well and take care of you.”
Kirk Davis moved to the Philipsburg area from Somerset County to work as DiamondBack’s production manager two-and-a-half years ago. Davis says DiamondBack strives to make the work experience a positive one.
“There’s a negative stigma around manufacturing, that it’s a dark, dirty, hard place to work,” Davis said. “I don’t believe it has to be that way, and when I found Diamond-Back and heard their mission and core values and really understood what they wanted to do, it was a perfect fit. … We really just try to treat people as people. Every single person on our team has value. We can’t do it without each individual. They all have equally important, but different, jobs to do.”
PLANS FOR EXPANSION
One of DiamondBack’s core values is to “make a difference in the community.” Eltz says this involves “making things better than they were when we got there. If DiamondBack shut its doors, would anyone besides the people who were getting a paycheck care?”
The company’s recent efforts to be involved in and improve the local community have included a booth at Philipsburg’s annual Heritage Days and a partnership with the Moshannon Valley YMCA to combat childhood hunger.
“All of this money that is going to the employees and the owners and the vendors form here, is coming from outside of Pennsylvania,” Eltz said. “We’re importing wealth. We’re bringing this money in from everywhere and improving Philipsburg and how we all live.”
There will likely be even more wealth generated by DiamondBack in the coming months. Eltz said plans are in the works to expand the company’s crew and add another shift.
“The people here are just amazing,” said Eltz. “For what we do, bending up aluminum, welding it, assembly, all that stuff, it just seems that people have those skills here, and they love the craftsmanship and making something that they can have pride in. They don’t quit. They work until the job is done, and our customers always say when they get the product, they can just tell it’s made in America, and people are proud of it. I don’t think that’s common — I think that’s something that’s unique to Philipsburg, that workforce and the mentality of pride in what you do. It’s huge.”
