Rustin Cassway, founder and owner of Demountable Concepts Inc. (DCI), myglasstruck.com, dcifleet.com and dciparts.com is a longtime friend, and an avid scuba diver/underwater explorer. We made New Jersey a planned stop on our journey north. We even worn (almost) matching colors . .
I met Rustin years ago while determining what type of OTR equipment was going to be deployed at Havertys Furniture in the quest to streamline distribution improve operating costs and minimize inventory investments. The choice eventually came down to pup trailers vs the demountable system. After a thorough cost analysis, Havertys made the decision to use the demountable system to minimize and strategically reposition the DCs to maximize growth potential. Havertys now has been operating with the DCI system for more than 15 years and still retains much of the original equipment. The concept of swap bodies can be a real cost saver when you compare it to the brick and mortar alternatives, and allowed them to re-examine and streamline the entire distribution system.
We spent the morning touring his manufacturing and service facility and meeting several of his employees. It is rare today to see long-term employees but there is a plethora of very talented long term employees at this location, which speaks multitudes for his management style and operating environment. The entire building was very, very clean, well-organized and the employees all seemed very knowledgable in their jobs, and were encouraged to be innovative, showing pride in their work.
This is a CNC plasma cutting machine, use to precisely cut the sheet metals necessary to build the frames and individual components for the demountable system. The plasma cutting process allows for extreme precision and repeatability thus improving productivity.
Rustin set (programmed) the machine to cut a figure and let Cathy start the process. This is the cutter working and Cathy holding the finished product.
We went to lunch and Rustin treated us to a true, “Philly Cheesesteak” sandwich and a pork sandwich unique to the area. The restaurant is across the street from Rowan University. The sandwiches were very good, but very large, so we also enjoyed them for dinner.
Glassboro was home to several glassworks, starting in the 1790’s including the Stanger Glassworks (1789) / Heston-Carpenter Glassworks (1786) / Olive Glassworks (1808)/ Harmony Glassworks (1824) / Whitney Glassworks (1834 – 1929). “South Jersey” glass was highly respected and is highly valued today. There is a Glass Museum in Glassboro but, alas, it was closed on the days we were to be there.
Returning to our motor home, we happened across this random 18th century meeting-house alongside the road and we stopped to check it out. There is an awful lot of history in this area.
next stop will be Connecticut . . .
Travelling with the Schinglers 