A dedication to customer and dealer feedback, as well as well-trained employees is what President and Founder of LGS Industries, Matthew Arnold, says are key to success.
In 2010, Arnold launched Look Trailers Inc. in Bristol, manufacturing enclosed cargo trailers. A daring move considering the recreational vehicle industry as a whole was devastated by the recession just a year before.
“The whole industry was impacted, it was a good time for us to come in and be a company based on dealers and customer feedback so we can build the types of trailers people want,” said Arnold.
Over the past three years LGS Industries has grown 439-percent, according to Inc. 5000’s 2014 list of fastest growing private businesses.
Only 98 individuals were employed three years ago, that number has since jumped to 360 employees.
Arnold attributes some of the growth to the acquisition of formerly bankrupted Pace American, another Elkhart County-based company.
Shortly thereafter, Arnold purchased a larger plot of land in Middlebury where he added a larger welding and manufacturing center to pump out a greater volume of trailers.
Products range in price and levels of luxury, something for “every buyer” said Arnold.
The trailers are now manufactured in Middlebury, Georgia, Utah and Arizona, and demand, said Arnold, is on the rise.
“I don’t think we’ve stopped hiring since we opened.”
The majority of available jobs are in manufacturing and production, but LGS is seeking a new engineer and qualified individuals for IT positions. The difficulty is finding, training, and keeping trained individuals.
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