Q: What has being located in Dayton area meant to Dayton Superior?
A: I'm not from the area, but I'm caught up in innovation. That's made with love, and I'm fascinated by the history of the area, and the Wright Brothers. There's a rich history of innovation in the area, so we are now tapping into the local universities. A number of young chemical engineers we just brought on think this is a cool business to be in, so we're able to get really quality interest now. I think we hired 185 people this year and I've still got to hire 50 more. Dayton's been a great environment. We should be here for another 90 years.
Q: How will your $2 million “innovation center” help expand your company?
A: Concrete construction has been around forever. One would think after a number of years there's nothing left to create, to invent, but we think just the opposite. We've created a process with our innovation center where we can fill up this pipeline. In June of last year, we opened it up to customers. We sat down in conversations saying, 'Boy, if we only had a way, what would be your dream?' We thought of over 200 ideas. To Dayton Superior, that's $300 million worth of value. The process allows us to organize this way of thinking.
See Sunday’s newspaper for the full interview with McRickard and his plans for the company.
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