Kevin Tipton is the president of Dreamline Manufacturing of Cabot. He is the son of Dreamline CEO Steve Tipton and grandson of founders Densial and Bonnie Tipton.
He is a member of the Cabot School Board and the Arkansas Career Education & Workforce Development Board.
Tipton earned a bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia in 2006.
Dreamline Manufacturing recently introduced a new mattress specifically for college dormitories.
Many family-owned companies crumble between the second and third generations. Why has Dreamline carried on successfully?
We’ve stayed grounded in what my grandparents built in 1963 with hard work, fair dealings and taking care of the customer. Every generation has brought new energy and ideas, but we’ve never strayed from those roots that Bonnie and Densial Tipton set out for us. Their son Steve Tipton, our CEO, has done a fantastic job holding us to these family values. I grew up working in the sewing room and loading trucks on the dock while learning how mattresses were made. When you’re raised inside a business like that, it becomes part of who you are. Our success has come from respecting that legacy while modernizing our operations and expanding into new markets.
What distinguishes your products in a marketplace full of mattress brands?
Our difference is in the details. Quality materials, craftsmanship, and the fact that we still manufacture every mattress right here in Cabot are the priorities for Dreamline. We’re not a marketing company that outsources production; we’re a manufacturing company that stands behind what we build. Every Dreamline mattress is designed for durability and performance, whether it’s for a college dorm, a hotel or a home. We’re also flexible. Being family-owned means we can customize products quickly to meet the needs of specific customers. For example, our dorm mattresses are built to withstand years of heavy use, and they are easy to clean and meet strict health and safety standards, while staying affordable for universities and residence life programs.
What percentage of Dreamline’s products are made in Arkansas? Does that give the company any advantages — or disadvantages?
100% of the mattresses we sell are made in Arkansas. Our team of roughly 40 employees handcrafts every mattress in Cabot. That gives us quality control and speed, two things you lose when you manufacture overseas. We can turn around custom orders quickly, and our customers like knowing who they’re dealing with. The challenge, of course, is that we don’t produce on a mass-production scale, but we do this so that we can offer these product variations. Our customers, especially colleges, hotels and independent retailers, are buying for value and reliability. We choose to support that business model.
Sign up for Daily E-news
