100 YEARS OF BUSINESS: HOW THESE FIRMS DID IT

Area companies say employees, culture and customer service have helped them stay open more than 100 years.

To stay in business for more than 100 years, local business leaders say the trick is no trick — put customers first, invest in employees and take intelligent risks.

What drives the success of historic companies are the same strengths that drive new companies, said Alan Pippenger, president of Dayton’s Requarth Co., which traces its history back to 1860.

“There’s no secret sauce,” he said.

The Dayton Daily News is celebrating 120 years in business and talked to leaders at some of the longest running companies in the region to learn what reasons they credit for their longevity.

The “formula” for long-term durability is strikingly familiar: Give customers what they want at a good price and treat employees, vendors and suppliers well.

“Ultimately, we’re judged every day by the job we’re doing,” said Pippenger, who is a member of the fifth generation of the family running Requarth Lumber. “We’re judged by the deliveries that are going out on time, by the service people are getting at the sales counter, by the quality of our products.”

He adds: “People aren’t going to continue to buy from us because we’re old.”

Bill Smith, president and chief executive of Huffy Corp., runs a company whose roots go back to the Davis Sewing Machine Co. The Huffman family bought the company in 1888 and brought the business from Watertown, N.Y. to Dayton over the next 18 months.

By 1892, the company had 2,000 employees and was just starting to make bicycles — the product for which Huffy in the next century became best know for manufacturing.

Luck is fickle, people retire or move on and products change. So how does a company endure for 100-plus years?

“It’s through the company’s culture,” Smith said.