DSS Celebrates 25 Years of Excellence
Houston-based Direct Scaffold Supply (DSS) celebrates its 25-year anniversary this year, a monumental achievement in an industry that has experienced rapid change in recent years. Founded by Bobby Frederick and Gary Davis in 1999, DSS has grown to become North America’s leading supplier of industrial and commercial scaffolding equipment. This growth has been spurred on by a focus on three strategic pillars: customer focus, unrelenting quality control, and a superior supply of inventory.
From the very beginning, Bobby and Gary had a vision to build a company centered on the customer. This commitment to take care of the customer, no matter what, still drives the culture at DSS today. “When Gary and I started DSS, we wanted to create a great company where both larger and smaller customers were treated right, with the same level of attention to detail and sense of urgency,” said Bobby Frederick, Founder of DSS. “In the beginning, it was just me and one yard person. In those days, we frequently stayed late, came in over the weekends, and worked over the holidays to fill emergency orders. We did what we had to do to fill the job and provide our customers a service that no other vendor could provide.”
An unrelenting focus on quality control, while delivering at a fair market price, has been a core tenet of DSS. As co-founder Gary Davis recalls, “in the late 90’s Bobby and I were seeing plenty of scaffolding providers, but very few that could consistently deliver high quality at a price that would work for customers over the long term. We set out to build a supply chain that could flex with demand, but one that never wavered on quality assurance and ongoing quality control measures”.
The final pillar of the DSS success story is the ability to maintain ample product on the ground to meet the ever-changing needs of customers. As DSS’s newly named CEO James Ivy explained, “When I joined the DSS team in 2010, the company was already well-established and considered the premier supplier in the scaffold industry. As a sales professional in an environment with sporadic demand coupled with a complex supply chain, I understood firsthand that product availability and lead time are essential to the organization’s ability to consistently perform. The level of investment and commitment to the business the founders displayed was above and beyond anything I’d seen in my previous years. As we have developed into a global player, we have kept this mind-set of being the company you could count on to have it ready to go.”
DSS has now grown to 9 locations and ship products to customers all over the world while continuing to expand into adjacent markets. Despite this success, DSS aims to never lose sight of its roots. As James Ivy describes, “While the DSS family has grown, and will continue to grow, we will never lose sight of our roots. We view our customers as extensions of our own organization and ensure each and every one of them feels valued and supported. We have a great team of people here that get up every day ready to meet that next challenge. It is and always will be what drives us, and that will never change.”