"Well, when I got back, I didn't have a shelving supplier, materials, or merchandise. So I had to scramble pretty good. Needless to say, that next week I had a lot of appointments and signed-up Indiana Trailer Supply, Coach Lite, Parkway Distributors and Mohawk Distribution. They would pay me 8 percent, and they didn't even have to touch it. I would write the order and everything. I lined-up Butler Store Fixture Company and within two weeks I set-up my first store. Then I started selling stores like crazy -- more than I could handle."

As Fowler would call on dealers he heard repeatedly that they were having trouble getting this or that part. "I kept telling them, you need to ask this distributor or that distributor," Fowler said, and I kept hearing: they don't have it -- it was an ongoing thing.

"I rejected the parts business in the beginning. I didn't want to compete with the people that I was doing business with. But I finally asked the question: what is it you can't get? It happened to be Monogram toilet parts. I went to the distributors that I was doing stores for and I said: these dealers say they can't get Monogram parts. I would like to take on Monogram parts and supply them. Do you have a problem with that? Everyone of them said no. As a matter of fact, they said, take all of the parts business, we don't want any of it. And this is what started DTI as we know it today.

"I took on Monogram parts, and it just absolutely exploded! Suppliers would ask distributors to stock their parts and were told, call DTI -- they will handle that stuff; I don't want any part of it. And we kept growing."

Today, DTI is the largest parts distributor in North America. Headquartered in Middlebury, IN, DTI also has branches in Canada and Florida. DTI overnights hundreds of packages to dealers and service shops every day. And DTI has as an inventory of over 24,000 SKU's.

Like many successful entrepreneurs, Fowler saw a need and filled it. But the company's continuing success is because he didn't stop there. He has a vision for DTI and its role in the industry. And he is always thinking of ways to do things better. His goal is to develop at least two new programs every year to benefit his customers, and then a major program every two years. There's a long list of examples, not the least of which is being the first distributor to commit to overnight shipping so his customers can have the parts they order the next day.

Another commitment he has made is to have the best trained technical sales staff in the industry. And that's not in selling or telemarketing techniques, but in being able to advise and assist technicians in the field with their repair problems. Fowler explained, "There's more to the parts business than just buying a part and selling it. You have to believe in and know what your selling. Our people wouldn't be a part of our organization, if they weren't committed. When that dealer calls, he's going to get help. We need to be able to tell him the right thing at the right time and get the part there in time to satisfy the consumer. To do that means DTI has to have a well-trained professional staff. We have people in school all the time. We teach them how to fix furnaces; we teach them how to fix water heaters. And this is everybody. Even the warehouse, purchasing and bookkeeping staffs are cross-trained. Everybody in this building. I would put most of my people up against any mechanic in the field."

Among the major programs Fowler introduced is his Magna-Finder software package, a computer based program that dealers can buy or lease that puts a comprehensive research tool at their finger tips. It not only automatically generates orders and immediately sends the order to the DTI warehouse, MagnaFinder gives a complete parts breakdown for almost every major appliance and component used in RVs, exploded views, tech notes, plus repair and trouble shooting guides.

And that automatically generated order? Within minutes after the technician clicks on the send button on his computer, the part is pulled from DTI's inventory, packaged and ready to ship for delivery the next day.

As we mentioned before, Fowler didn't hold this technology just to DTI. The nation's largest suppliers use the MagnaFinder as well as some competing distributors.

For many companies, the soul of the business is in the executive offices or board room. At DTI it's the warehouse. According to Fowler, if that works efficiently and accurately, the rest of the company can do a good job. He said, "Everything happens in our warehouse. It comes in and goes out there, and that's the pulse of our business, our entire operation.

"Sue ran that for years. She had an incredible, practical outlook on the way things should happen. As years went by, it came to the point where she tired of it. I guess eventually, in our lives, when you do something long enough, you have had enough. And she decided that she wanted to leave the company. Well, that was a great loss to me.

"Sue took a very, very important role in the company and I will always be grateful and cherish her for it. I am somewhat of an entrepreneur and entrepreneurs come up with ideas but often have no idea about how to make it happen. Sue made things happen within our company."

And as Hal looks into the future, he sees his son Jess coming up with ideas, and Jess's wife Missy making them happen.