Latest news with #WilliamGagnon
Qatar Tribune
5 hours ago
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
After years of sourcing struggles, United States dryer maker cuts China out
Agencies Denis Gagnon had long wanted to establish a manufacturing firm supplied only by American-made parts, a vision shaped by his experience in the international corporate world and his assessment of business risks offshore. He was an outlier in an era of globalisation when businesspeople, including his US peers, waxed lyrical about outsourcing from Asia to minimise production costs. The Gagnons, including his son William, run a medium-sized company called Excel Dryer in the US state of 2018, the year US President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports in his first term, the father and son knew they had the right plan. Their conviction was reinforced earlier this year when the world's two largest economies escalated duties on each other's imports. 'The tariff increase only solidified our decision to move forward,' said William Gagnon, who is now executive vice-president of the company. After eight tough years searching for a motor supplier outside China, the maker of electric hand dryers achieved its goal of sourcing 100 per cent of its parts domestically by 2023, William Gagnon told the Post. Today, Excel Dryer does not have to worry about paying tariffs on imports from China. The move to source goods locally came as the Trump administration pushes to restore US manufacturing in industries ranging from shipbuilding and copper to rare earth metals. 'We are happy we don't have to worry about it,' William Gagnon said. 'We're not on the edge of our seats worrying about what's going to happen. We are able to focus on more important and strategic things.' s While sourcing most components in the US was simple enough, replacing the firm's Chinese motor suppliers turned into a slog for the family-owned company, he said. Excel Dryer evaluated at least a dozen American motor suppliers before selecting one, the executive VP added. 'It was difficult to find an American motor vendor that could match the size, performance and costs of motors made in China because of the volume and lower labour costs,' he said. 'That's why other companies, like our competitors, have moved away from domestic sourcing in favour of importing components or the whole product to stay cost-competitive.' Excel Dryer was looking for 'reliability and consistency' when the Gagnons set out to source all components from the US. 'However, US parts often come at a higher cost,' he said. 'Chinese suppliers dominate on price, but longer [order] lead times, inconsistent quality and growing geopolitical tensions add risk.' He called the search for a motor supplier 'very thorough', covering performance, durability, cost, production capacity and reliability. Although he did not disclose the costs involved, he described it as a 'significant effort' and not an 'easy process'. Excel now gets its dryer motors from Scott Fetzer Electrical Group, based in the US state of Tennessee. William Gagnon said the company allows Excel to communicate directly with its management and negotiate purchase deals. The American vendor ended up offering higher 'quality control', shorter order times and 'greater supply chain stability' than Chinese counterparts, he said. 'Keeping the product American-made is not easy. It's taken a lot of focus and effort by us.' Excel Dryer does not disclose what it pays for motors, but William Gagnon said that American and Chinese engines have about the same 'landed cost' when factoring in tariffs. Still, many Chinese analysts doubt whether American firms can follow suit and decouple from Asian suppliers. Charles Chang, a finance professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, pointed out that other American light industrial firms facing Trump's tariffs had tried to replace Chinese suppliers with American ones but usually ended up paying the duties anyway or raising companies are too 'fragile' to afford the higher-cost, harder-to-find American suppliers, he said. 'These stories are popular, the workaround concept, but it's a small percentage, a very small group of people.' Excel, founded in 1997, does not disclose revenue or output figures but calls itself a mid-sized company with more than 15 per cent growth in annual revenue. The executive VP said Excel would not raise prices on account of onshoring its dryer motors. Prices start at US$535 per unit on Amazon, compared to an average of US$400 – US$500 per unit, across brands, as estimated by the US-based online B2B retailer HomElectrical Electric Dryer has saved money by shipping hundreds of dryers to countries that lowered duties on US imports after April 2, when Trump raised tariffs worldwide, the executive VP said. Some countries managed to get the US to lower tariffs by easing their own trade barriers that had long irked American exporters.'It's helping us to export because [Trump tariffs] reduce barriers to export into those markets.'
South China Morning Post
14 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
‘Not easy': how a US firm avoided Trump's China tariffs by sourcing American
Denis Gagnon had long wanted to establish a manufacturing firm supplied only by American-made parts, a vision shaped by his experience in the international corporate world and his assessment of business risks offshore. He was an outlier in an era of globalisation when businesspeople, including his US peers, waxed lyrical about outsourcing from Asia to minimise production costs. The Gagnons, including his son William, run a medium-sized company called Excel Dryer in the US state of Massachusetts. In 2018, the year US President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports in his first term, the father and son knew they had the right plan. Their conviction was reinforced earlier this year when the world's two largest economies escalated duties on each other's imports. 'The tariff increase only solidified our decision to move forward,' said William Gagnon, who is now executive vice-president of the company. After eight tough years searching for a motor supplier outside China, the maker of electric hand dryers achieved its goal of sourcing 100 per cent of its parts domestically by 2023, William Gagnon told the Post.
Business Insider
19-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
I'm a family-owned American manufacturer. Being made in the US hasn't been easy but it's paying off.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with William Gagnon, executive vice president and COO of Excel Dryer, a hand-dryer manufacturer based in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Their main product is the XLERATOR Hand Dryer. This story has been edited for length and clarity. We are a family-owned and operated company. I own it with my father, Dennis, who always wanted to own his own manufacturing company and make quality products that were American-made, dependable, and that people like to use. That was his criteria. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. We've worked together over the years to make sure that it stayed that way. It's certainly been difficult, with the easy route being to simply source overseas and get things cheap from China and keep costs down and make more margin. But that wasn't who we were. We always tried to find a better way to do things — to be more efficient, reduce material and labor costs, and have quality employees making a living wage — and still be able to produce an American-made product that was high quality at an affordable price. We are Made-in-USA certified, which requires a minimum of 84% of materials sourced domestically, but we have far surpassed that. We're really in the upper 90% of being sourced in the US, and almost 50% of our materials are sourced in Massachusetts from very local vendors. For a while, we couldn't find a motor manufacturer domestically that could compete with motors from China in performance, price, size, and other things. But we have since found a domestic partner and shifted all of our motor manufacturing to be with a partner out of Tennessee. It has not been easy, and it took a consistent, dedicated effort to always be looking and always be trying to find new vendors as close as possible. Being made in America differentiates us from other hand dryers and certainly makes a difference to our customers and the buyers. The recent tariffs have also been good for business. We've been able to control our supply lines and our materials and their costs because they're all domestic. With everyone living in uncertain times and not knowing really where the materials they were buying from people were coming from, we've known, and that has put us in a very competitive position. One of our top distributors put out an e-blast saying that several of our top competitors were raising their prices, but our name was not on that list. We asked them to put out that same e-blast to say that XL Dryer is American-made and will not be having a price increase because we're tariff resilient and domestically sourced. We have absolutely gotten new customers as a result of this. We are also a global company. We just put almost 600 hand dryers into the new Istanbul airport. But to get our American-made product into Turkey, there are substantial added costs, such as tariffs and value-added tax. It's a barrier to entry there and makes our product more expensive and less competitive. If those costs can come down through trade negotiations, it's going to open up more international markets for us. Uncertainty is never good, especially for business, so that the sooner things can be negotiated and put into place, the better it's going to be for all involved. We're a small manufacturer of a niche product, and everyone's story is different. But for us, in the way we've been doing business and doing it harder than most and making it a part of who we are — and being proud to be American-made in Massachusetts, which is where America was born — it is an exciting time for us. Being American-made is just who we are. It is in our DNA. But I feel it's as if we almost were looking into the future a little bit to be ready for this moment, and it's maybe a positive for all the hard work over the years that we had to put in to keep it this way. It's nice for it to be paying off.
Malaysian Reserve
15-05-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Excel Dryer: American made and tariff resilient
Hand dryer manufacturer holds prices as top competitors announce increases across full product lines EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass., May 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Excel Dryer, Inc., a family-owned and operated manufacturer of touchless, high-efficiency hand dryers, is benefiting from its longstanding commitment to producing high-quality, American-made products, a strategy that has effectively insulated the company from the impact of import tariffs. 'Excel's mission has always been to design and manufacture quality American-made products that are dependable, and people like to use,' said Executive Vice President and COO William Gagnon. 'It's in our DNA.' XLERATOR® Hand Dryers are the only ones with Made in USA certification, built with parts from domestic supplier partners and manufactured in Massachusetts. As most of the top hand dryer manufacturers have announced price increases on their entire product line due to changing tariff policies, Excel is holding steady on pricing with production uninterrupted. In addition to being tariff resilient, Excel leads the industry in sustainability. A life-cycle study focusing on energy consumption shows Excel dryers provide up to a 94 percent reduction of carbon footprint versus 100 percent recycled paper towels. The company encourages developers toward environmentally friendly design practices with green continuing education courses to help builders create health-focused facilities that meet criteria for Well Building Standard (WELL) certification. Excel is also committed to hygiene, recently teaming up with the highly respected research firm Metrixlab to conduct a global survey. Results show a strong link between public restroom cleanliness and business reputation, with respondents saying the number one contributing factor to a dirty restroom is paper towels on the floor or overflowing trash cans. 'Every day our workers here in Massachusetts create the world's most efficient, environmentally friendly and hygienic hand drying solution,' said Gagnon. 'Born from American innovation, we are proud to set the standard for the industry.' About Excel Dryer, Dryer is a family-owned and operated company that revolutionized the industry with the invention of the XLERATOR® Hand Dryer, which set a new standard for performance, reliability and customer satisfaction. For more than 50 years, Excel has been manufacturing American-made hand drying solutions that are dependable, cost effective, safe and sustainable. Backed by the best customer service, Excel Dryer products can be purchased through an established network of sales representatives and distributors globally. Learn more about Excel Dryer at
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Excel Dryer: American made and tariff resilient
Hand dryer manufacturer holds prices as top competitors announce increases across full product lines EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass., May 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Excel Dryer, Inc., a family-owned and operated manufacturer of touchless, high-efficiency hand dryers, is benefiting from its longstanding commitment to producing high-quality, American-made products, a strategy that has effectively insulated the company from the impact of import tariffs. "Excel's mission has always been to design and manufacture quality American-made products that are dependable, and people like to use," said Executive Vice President and COO William Gagnon. "It's in our DNA." XLERATOR® Hand Dryers are the only ones with Made in USA certification, built with parts from domestic supplier partners and manufactured in Massachusetts. As most of the top hand dryer manufacturers have announced price increases on their entire product line due to changing tariff policies, Excel is holding steady on pricing with production uninterrupted. In addition to being tariff resilient, Excel leads the industry in sustainability. A life-cycle study focusing on energy consumption shows Excel dryers provide up to a 94 percent reduction of carbon footprint versus 100 percent recycled paper towels. The company encourages developers toward environmentally friendly design practices with green continuing education courses to help builders create health-focused facilities that meet criteria for Well Building Standard (WELL) certification. Excel is also committed to hygiene, recently teaming up with the highly respected research firm Metrixlab to conduct a global survey. Results show a strong link between public restroom cleanliness and business reputation, with respondents saying the number one contributing factor to a dirty restroom is paper towels on the floor or overflowing trash cans. "Every day our workers here in Massachusetts create the world's most efficient, environmentally friendly and hygienic hand drying solution," said Gagnon. "Born from American innovation, we are proud to set the standard for the industry." About Excel Dryer, Dryer is a family-owned and operated company that revolutionized the industry with the invention of the XLERATOR® Hand Dryer, which set a new standard for performance, reliability and customer satisfaction. For more than 50 years, Excel has been manufacturing American-made hand drying solutions that are dependable, cost effective, safe and sustainable. Backed by the best customer service, Excel Dryer products can be purchased through an established network of sales representatives and distributors globally. Learn more about Excel Dryer at View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Excel Dryer Sign in to access your portfolio
