Open it up

At the height of the recession, manufacturing executive Joseph Ambrose printed out a stack of customer accounts.

It wasn't a nostalgic look back at better days.

Instead Ambrose sought to help his firm, Bradenton-based PlexiDor, a manufacturer of high-end kennel and residential pet doors, fight its way out of the downturn. In particular, Ambrose wanted to see which customers, from a database of 71,000 accounts going back nearly three decades, had spent at least $5,000 a year. He found a few who met the criteria, including one in Virginia, a pet products and accessories dealer who spent $25,000 a year for 10 straight years.

Ambrose flew to see those customers. He went everywhere from Virginia to Las Vegas. He asked the clients what they liked about PlexiDor's products, what they didn't and how he could sell them more. Ambrose soon did the same thing internationally. He went to Canada, England and Australia, among other countries. “We had to shift our paradigm,” says Ambrose.

The results of Ambrose's trips have led to a shift at PlexiDor, from recession-era doldrums to a dynamic growth company. Ambrose says sales have doubled since 2010, and he hopes to move out of the firm's cramped 10,000-square-foot facility, a few miles south of downtown Bradenton, next year. He would like to buy a new facility that's at least 20,000 square feet. Ambrose declines to release revenues or even how many employees are on the payroll. He cites a hyper-competitive industry with tight margins. “This is a niche business,” says Ambrose, “and it's a costly business.”

Sales to clients outside the United States have exploded, and now Ambrose says the firm targets a 50-50 domestic-international client split by 2015. It's a sizable diversification strategy given the firm's clients were 98% domestic in the mid-2000s.

In the process of recalibrating PlexiDor, Ambrose says he also learned more about being an entrepreneur. That's significant because Ambrose comes from a family of manufacturing executives and entrepreneurs, including a family dairy farm in Illinois and auto parts and accessories businesses in Michigan.

One key lesson learned, for instance, is the importance of following the business axiom that says an executive should work on the business, not in it, whenever possible.

Ambrose's solution: He stays home every Monday, where he works only on long-term strategy, planning and vision for PlexiDor. He doesn't want anything in the office to distract him. Says Ambrose: “My father believed an executive should worry about next year, your supervisor should worry about next month, and your employees should worry about today.”

The today at PlexiDor is wrapped around more than 50 lines and varieties of saloon-style, shatter resistant, two-way pet doors that go on the bottom of people doors. Prices range from $163 to $1,249 a door. The products, says Ambrose, are chew-proof and are made with hardened acrylic panels. The goal is to make something secure, sturdy and energy efficient.

Ambrose bought PlexiDor, founded in 1985, from the previous owners in 1995. The manufacturing model under Ambrose is akin to auto manufacturing, where the focus is on a lean-style process with few steps. PlexiDor gets its metal, brass, aluminum and other materials from outside vendors and then designs and builds the doors in-house. “All of our products,” Ambrose says, “come from our customers' needs.”

Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon