Trim-Tex – Case Study

EYES ON THE PRIZE

Executive Summary

trim-tex

Trim-Tex is a family-owned business and leader in vinyl drywall products, providing more than 200 types of drywall solutions for both the residential and commercial sectors. Founded by Joseph Koenig Sr. in 1969, Trim-Tex celebrates its 55th anniversary in 2024.

After more than a decade of utilizing ITR Economics’ services in a previous role, Trim-Tex Chief Financial Officer Matt Totsch brought ITR’s insights to the drywall solutions provider to help motivate the executive team, explore new markets, and identify and act upon upcoming economic trends before competitors.

  • Trim-Tex has been a client of ITR Economics for more than three years now.
  • Several Trim-Tex executives meet regularly with ITR Economics Senior Forecaster Connor Lokar to discuss the reports included in their Executive Vantage Point™ (EVP) subscription and go over business strategies, economic trends, their markets and industry, and much more.
  • Trim-Tex trusts ITR Economics’ unbiased and data-driven approach to forecasting, and the company uses ITR’s forecasts to make the right decisions at the right times and continue to grow the business.
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“When you're going through the business cycles, you want to be able to hit all those opportunities when they present themselves...

So, we're constantly trying to position ourselves to be able to build – to be able to meet those opportunities. It's nice to have ITR on our side to help guide that decision-making.” – Matt Totsch

Challenges – Uniting the Team

Most of the Trim-Tex executive team meets with ITR Economics quarterly. While it is not uncommon for a company to try and find ways to collectively predict the future of the business, Trim-Tex finds that the insight provided by ITR Economics helps keep everyone on the same page regarding company performance, risks to the business, and upcoming opportunities. “It’s like going to see your doctor in a way,” Totsch said. “You’re just making sure we’re looking at the right things and finding correlations to market conditions.”

With everyone on the same page and speaking the same language, Trim-Tex’s company goals are aligned, and the firm leverages relevant data and expert insights from ITR Economics to drive the business forward.

How Product Helped

The building materials industry does not often embrace change, with many companies adopting an attitude of “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” ITR Economics has helped Trim-Tex remain ahead of the competition by helping the company explore new opportunities in new markets, remain focused on its core and essential products, stay motived to beat the forecast, and strive to do better while celebrating the wins.

Totsch said that his experiences over the years with ITR Economics and our accurate and unbiased forecasts made the decision to continue working with us a no-brainer. “It was ITR all the way,” Totsch said. “It was love at first sight.”

"Another thing that ITR Economics has helped us understand is concentration...

We reduced our SKU counts from nearly 800 to just under 300, and it’s allowed us to create more focus on our products. If we didn’t do that through COVID, we would’ve been dead in the water.” – Matt Totsch

trimtex case study

Results, Return On Investment, And Future Plans

Thanks in part to ITR Economics’ services, Trim-Tex has been able to take market share from the steel industry with its vinyl drywall bead.

Too many companies adopt a reactionary business strategy. Thanks to accurate insights from ITR Economics, Trim-Tex continues to make proactive business decisions. By focusing on the data and understanding the implications, Trim-Tex takes the emotion out of its business strategy.

“I don’t know where people get their economics from. There’s a lot of politics in the media that you read, and so that’s really where ITR can help you, because it’s looking at factual information.” – Matt Totsch