Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/698493
Side-by-side becomes a hot segment for the company BY LIZ KEENER MANAGING EDITOR On a Monday morning in Temecula, California, PRP Seats employees were hard at work, assem- bling custom seats for waiting customers. They were bundling materials, sewing, welding, attaching foam and slipping leather over frames as they tried to push out as many high-quality seats as possible. "Sales are up for us," marketing director Jason DeArmond told Powersports Business during a factory tour. "We're above capacity as far as our weekly seat production, so it's been very busy so far this year. We don't see it slow- ing down any time soon." PRP Seats is getting about 50 more orders per week than the company has the capacity to produce. Because of this, production time has increased to three weeks from the typical two- week period. But DeArmond explained PRP is still producing seats faster than its competitors, and moves are being made to bring it back to two weeks. "We really pride ourselves in keeping that production time down. That's always been our No. 1 priority; that's just our focus," he said. For PRP, the question is: "What's next?" With capacity overflowing, the company is looking into its next step as it plans for future growth. PRP recently purchased two digital cutting machines to speed up production, but it also has to look at how to add to its staff. "We're making plans for the future of where we're going to expand that, what we're going to do, whether we're going to expand it internally or use American outsourcing production," DeArmond explained. It's always been important to PRP that its seats are American made and can be deliv- ered to customers in short order. Therefore, the company is looking at the U.S. for any expansion. "That's what we really focus on, and that's why we really pride ourselves on that, not just using American factories but also being able to quickly turnaround a good, quality product that is made here, but it's at a competitive price point as well. We really work hard to keep all of that hand-in-hand, so it's important to us to keep most of it made in America, if not all of it," DeArmond said. It's amazing even to DeArmond that PRP is able to deliver seats with all custom colors and optional features like heaters and lumbar support in a matter of two to three weeks, but customers appreciate that service. "They like coming in here and checking things out, and they do like that it is American- made because a lot of our customers are very patriotic, very into their country, as we are, so it's important all around," he said. Though PRP Seats started off in the Jeep and buggy market in 1997, the sport side-by-side sales boon has shifted the business. "UTV is huge. UTV sales is about 2-to-1 as compared to combined Jeep and truck and all that stuff, so it's really big for us. It's really been the thing that took us to the level that we're at today," DeArmond reported. PRP was one of the first seat companies to explore the side-by-side segment, quickly developing seats as vehicles like the Polaris RZR hit the market. That experience earned PRP a contract with Polaris, developing seats for the RZR XP 900 H.O. Jagged X Edition. "When we first started that program, they got seats from all of the major manufacturers, and we were the one that really could come through, not just with production times and PRP Seats cranks out product from California FOCUS PSB UTV-Sport 28 • July 11, 2016 • Powersports Business www.PowersportsBusiness.com See PRP Seats, Page 30 About 50 people work at PRP Seats.