DMP Celebrates 50 Years in Business
Digital Monitoring Products (DMP) commemorated 50 years since its founding in 1975 with an anniversary celebration at its Springfield, Missouri, headquarters on June 12. Approximately 500 guests attended, including dealers, vendors, nonprofit partners, dignitaries, friends, and family.
The program began with a panel discussion, which included DMP CEO and President Rick Britton, Vice President of Fun Jan Britton, COO Marc Mills, and Vice President of Training David Peebles. Mills and Peebles were the first two employees DMP hired. They shared anecdotes of the early days and perspectives on DMP’s growth and success.
“One of the challenges was they had to interleave their homework with their work here. They were running back and forth from Drury to the office,” said Rick. David added, “If we had an hour between classes, we would come and clock in. We kept that Benton-Kimbrough road hot.”
This panel was followed by an interview with the Britton family: Rick and Jan and their children, Jeff Britton and Mandy Tucker. They shared heartwarming stories of what it was like growing up as part of DMP. “On Saturdays, we would look forward to going to DMP,” said Mandy. “They had a desk,” Rick added. “And they would come play office.”
“It’s been great because I’ve gotten to work in pretty much every department since high school,” Jeff said. “To learn so much from everybody I’ve worked with… I know that’s very unique.”
Two keynote speakers were featured. Hal Donaldson, president of Convoy of Hope, discussed the partnership DMP and Convoy of Hope have shared since 2011 and the charitable impact that has come from it. Convoy of Hope has expanded from providing food to 115,587 children a day to 639,000. Their business training program for women has grown from 650 to 61,000 women a year. They provide agricultural training to farmers. From reaching 125 farmers in 2011, that program now trains 39,000 farmers a year. They’ve also significantly expanded disaster response and community outreach.
Speaking on behalf of DMP dealers, Scott Elkins, CEO of Zeus Fire and Security, shared his experiences about why DMP has been a valuable business partner over the years and what led him to commit to DMP as a manufacturing provider. “DMP operates with a level of integrity that’s rare,” Elkins said. “Not just in our industry, but in any industry.”
Rick Britton gave closing remarks of gratitude. After the program concluded, guests were invited to participate in guided tours of the headquarters.
Resolutions from the Missouri Senate and the Missouri House of Representatives were presented and displayed to recognize the milestone. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe, U.S. Senators Eric Schmitt and Josh Hawley, and U.S. Congressman Eric Burlison issued certificates and letters of congratulations.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, fewer than 1% of businesses make it to the 50-year milestone. In 1975, while working for his father at Atlas Security, Rick Britton began development on a product to automate direct-wire and McCulloh products for their central monitoring station. As the development of its products grew, DMP was formed, first as a research and development department of Atlas Security, then as an independent manufacturing company.
