Aiming to Win
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By Alan Dorich   
Monday, 14 May 2007
smc After establishing itself as a leader in metal fabricating for the housing and RV industries, Elixir Industries is now planning to continue with its plan to branch out and serve other industries.
After establishing itself as a leader in metal fabricating for the housing and RV industries, Elixir Industries is now planning to continue with its plan to branch out and serve other industries.
Since its start in a 600-square-foot shop in Gardena, Calif., Elixir Industries has come a long way. Today, the company says it is the largest privately held independent supplier in the nation to the factory built housing and recreational vehicle (RV) industries, with 16 divisions in 13 states.

President and CEO Christopher Sahm says his grandfather, Roland R. Sahm, started the company in 1948 as Elixir Lacquer and Paint Co., selling painted siding to the mobile home industry.

Previously, Sahm was a salesman of products made by Standard Paints Inc. Initially, the company manufactured paints and lacquers for trailers, and later added implement enamels, furniture finishes and steel coatings to its product lines. According to Elixir Industries, Roland Sahm was the company’s only salesman during its early years, and built the company on the relationships he formed with clients.

Sahm would often bring in orders written on a scrap of paper, a sheet of cardboard or a piece of wood, the company says. “He was a businessman whose handshake is his word, and he has built his company on relationships that have lasted a lifetime,” Elixir Industries states.

Through the years, Sahm started other businesses, including Bay Cities Paint Shop, which was incorporated in 1956. The company manufactured exterior entry and specialty doors for RVs and manufactured housing. Bay Cities later changed its name to Broadway Metals and Fabricators in 1962.

During the 1950s, Sahm also started Spraymatic Corp., which painted metal sheets on travel trailers and motor and mobile homes. The company later switched to metal fabrication when Sahm purchased the first continuous 52-inch embossing line on the West Coast, and changed the company’s name to Alum-A-Form Co.

According to Elixir Industries, the strengths in Sahm’s companies were in his ability to turn opportunities into advantages. “His knack for bringing to the manufactured housing and recreational vehicle industries the products they needed, combined with his intuitive ability to select the right people to help the companies grow, proved to be an unbeatable combination,” it states.

In 1969, all of Sahm’s companies were combined into Elixir Industries. Two years later, Christopher Sahm says, Elixir Industries went public and had 34 divisions in 26 states.

After a conflict between the board members and his grandfather, Roland Sahm purchased the company back in 1982 and took it private. “Since then, we really haven’t looked back,” Christopher Sahm says, noting that it has since downsized the number of divisions, but also grown through acquisitions.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Roland Sahm grew Elixir Industries to be more diversified and profitable. Today, the company has 16 operating divisions across the United States.

According to the company, these include two aluminum extrusion divisions that supply the construction, transportation, machinery and equipment, electrical, consumer durable and recreational markets. In addition, Elixir Industries has a custom vacuum-formed plastic division that offers numerous manufactured products.

Elixir Industries says its product lines have grown to include metal roofing and siding, entrance and utility doors, roof vents and domes, frame parts, putty tape, sealants, travel trim and shields, and numerous plastic components and aluminum extrusions. “We [are] also major suppliers of chassis to the golf cart industry,” adds Dwight Knowles, vice president of operations.

According to Christopher Sahm, the company strives to maintain his grandfather’s vision of successful enterprises and his legacies of strength and progression. “Elixir Industries continues to grow and provide viable products and services for our customers today and tomorrow,” Sahm said in a statement.

Running Smoothly
Sahm joined the company in 1996, but took the role of president and CEO in 2002. “Next year will be 60 years we have been in business,” he says. “All of our buildings are paid for [and] we have no debt. We have [a] very good, positive cash flow.”

Knowles has been with Elixir Industries since 1986, and became vice president of operations last year. He notes that he has enjoyed working for a small private company. “[They have] given me a lot of latitude,” he says.

Sahm notes that the company is distinguished from its competitors by being quality driven. “We strive for excellence,” he says, adding that Elixir Industries concentrates on exceeding clients’ expectations, and works constantly “towards continuous improvement.” As a privately owned firm, Elixir Industries can react faster than its publicly owned competitors.

“If a particular division’s looking for some capital improvements, [it’s] not a paralysis by analysis scenario,” he says. “Within a matter of minutes, a decision’s made, whether we spend $300,000, $400,000 or $500,000.”

An Aggressive Search
Although the company has survived by serving the housing and RV industries, Sahm says his goal since 2002 has been to diversify Elixir Industries. “We are aggressively seeking new areas to grow the company,” he says, noting that the company plans “to become more of a general fabricator for all industries.”

Knowles says the company is actively seeking acquisitions that will allow it to serve new markets. In addition, the company is adding state-of-the-art equipment. He notes that this includes an investment of more than $6 million for a new press at its aluminum extrusion division in Douglas, Ga. “[It] allows us to enter into some markets we haven’t been able to [enter] due to size limitations,” he says.

In five years, Sahm says he wants the company’s sales to have increased by 30 percent. “It’s truly reasonable risk taking, looking at an acquisition or looking at a purchase,” he says.

“If we all work hard and put our heads together, this should turn out to be a good move for the company,” he says. “My grandfather always said, ‘If you don’t gamble, you don’t win.’”
 
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