Q&A with Charles Webster

By Sigrid Tornquist

Q: You’ve taken your company from one location with 14 employees to four locations with more than 200 employees. How have you changed your management style to accommodate that kind of growth?

A: I’ve found that as your company grows, sometimes you have to replace staff—which is difficult to do, but if you want to grow your company, you have to make tough decisions. The expectations for any given position can change when you’re manufacturing more products. The need to organize and prioritize increases, which can mean needing more experienced employees.

Q: What are your product development strategies?

A: It starts with truly understanding the current state of our products in the market. We accomplish this by interacting daily with OEMs, dealers and consumers, and listening to what customers have to say regarding what they like about Dowco’s products, and what they’re looking to find in the market and can’t. We use this information to develop products that are easier for the consumer to use, and at the same time bring value to our OEM customers. At the end of the day it is our goal to come up with products that obsolete old technology and replace it with something that is easier to use.