Distribution Management Inc., a provider of technology and services, has moved from St. Louis to a new, $7 million facility in the Missouri Research Park in Weldon Spring.
The new facility, which enables the company to be a part of the University of Missouri system, provides space for the company’s growth.
DMI is a provider of technology and services to an independent dealer channel that sells computer and imaging supplies. The company is the parent of a wholly owned subsidiary, Supplies Network, whose total business focus is selling computer, copier, fax and printer supplies to independent dealers across the United States.
DMI’s services include product management, order entry, distribution logistics, finance and technology and marketing. DMI manages Web sites for its dealers and offers other marketing tools, such as print-on-demand catalogs, direct e-mail campaigns and direct mail.
“The dealer can be in business as a sales organization, and we provide all other infrastructure support,” said Tom Fleming, DMI’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
After working for nearly two decades as a dealer for the office products division of IBM, Fleming founded DMI in 1972. According to a company-released statement, Fleming’s inspiration for starting what he considers a nontraditional, full-service, whole-saler, was the realization that there was a need for a much more professional wholesaler-to-dealer relationship.
Starting with only three employees in his first year in business, DMI has grown today to about 130 employees with approximately $195 million in sales last year and $225 million this year.
To accommodate the growth over the years, the company built a 26,000-square-foot facility in the Chesterfield Valley in 1990. About 10 years later, the company again found a need to accommodate its growth, and in April 2002, DMI moved into its $7 million facility at the Research Park, located at 5 Research Park Drive in St. Charles.
DMI’s new facility, a 50,000-square-foot high-tech building, was necessary because the company was outgrowing its Chesterfield facilities. The new location also “gave us the presence we needed…and the opportunity to partner with the University of Missouri system,” Fleming said in a company press release.
Companies located within the Missouri Research Park must first be approved by the University of Missouri and require the sponsorship of a dean within the university system.
“Our strength is our logistical technology, which the university system will, at any time, be able to study and use as part of their curriculum,” said Greg Welchans, DMI’s director of marketing. “Overall, we wanted to be in the Missouri Research Park because of the partnership with the University of Missouri. We wanted to be near other technology companies in the park, like the Nike (Inc.) technology division, because we want to be associated with that type of company from an image perspective.”
Welchans said the new facility will accommodate the company’s growth for at least the next 10 years.
Currently, DMI occupies about 40,000 square feet out of the total 50,000 square feet of the building. The other 10,000 square feet is available for sublease to other technological companies that would be complementary to the park, Welchans said.
He said 5,000 square feet of DMI’s 40,000 square feet houses conference facilities for dealers and suppliers. The facilities have the capacity for 36 students and accommodations for usage of laptop computers, Welchans added.
According to a company press release, Fleming said the new building in the Research Park, which sits close to highways 40 and 94 offers an ideal location for conference facilities, especially with its proximity to hotels and other necessities.
“We’re doing a lot of things that the traditional wholesaler does not do,” Fleming said in the release. “We’ve taken the focus off the product and put the focus on services. That differentiates us from our competitors. Our future is extremely bright.”
