IN THE TRADES by Taylor Steinberg

NOT YOUR AVERAGE, MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, PAVEMENT MARKING COMPANY

Stripe-A-Zone was started in 1950 when R.E. Lindsay created a small parking lot cleaning and striping company named “Portapark.” Two years later he expanded into a turnkey parking lot maintenance company and renamed it Stripe-A-Zone. He set industry standards for quality after refining his first hand-operated striping machine to be more efficient and productive. Lindsay’s keen observation of the marketplace uncovered the need for wheel stops, and for several years, held the patent on this product.
In 1974, R.E. Lindsay’s Stripe-A-Zone merged with Bryce Anderson, of Anderson Striping of Dallas to become the largest striping company in the nation. Through the years, Stripe-A-Zone continued to prosper and expand to one of the largest turnkey pavement marking companies in the United States. In 1997, local businessman David Sargent purchased Stripe-A-Zone.
Expansion continued in 2020 partnering with the Sterling Group, a Houston-based upper middle market private equity firm and the establishment of Frontline Road Safety (“Frontline”), a new platform created to build a national leader in the US road safety industry.
“We currently operate Stripe-A-Zone out of two primary locations in Texas,” future growth plans outlined by David K. Sargent, President, “include adding additional operating companies in new markets through Frontline.”
For over 71 years, Stripe-A-Zone continues their goal of providing quality workmanship with the latest technology at an affordable price insuring 100% customer satisfaction.
Our striping and marking expertise has taken us to Carswell, Altus and Shepard Air Force Base along with Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field. We have completed parking lots of all sizes and locations in the region, including the AT&T Stadium, home of Dallas Cowboys along with numerous college and high school marching band practice fields. Check out www.stripe-a-zone.com for a complete selection of pavement and warehouse marking and striping products.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Stripe-A-Zone, Grand Prairie, TX, located near Arlington, TX takes great pride in supporting two major community projects.

PlayGrand Adventures at Grand Central in Grand Prairie, TX, a fun playground of “EPIC” proportions –
playgrandadventures.com

Arlington Public Library,
Downtown Arlington, TX designed to meet technological and educational needs of a vibrant, modern society. arlingtonlibrary.org/about/Downtown-Library

We challenge all Ford Pros related businesses to support projects needed to make their communities a better place to live.

FLEET DETAILS
65% of their fleet of over 200 vehicles are Ford with an emphasis on the F-150 through F-550. Class I and II vehicles are crew cab pickups. Class III – V utilize Knapheide platforms with heavy-duty bulkheads and Knapheide 6108 service bodies on F-350 60” CA SRW chassis. The balance are Class VII chassis equipped with crash attenuators for operator protection along with Class VIII chassis handling material tanks and striping equipment for airport, pavement, parking lot striping and marking.

WHY FORD
“Uptime is the focus of our needs and achieved by cycling out our entire fleet every five years as it creates less expense and minimal downtime. The high standards and quality of our fleet is an excellent recruiting tool in today’s tight personnel market as it provides a great image and comfort value for future employees. We provide onsite private parking for operators of our current fleet of Ford pickups. Our experience with Ford continues to convert numerous employees to Ford products for their personal transportation.
Ford vehicles match the application, size and GVWR required for all of our needed functions, as reliability is consistently better than previous brands. No downsizing of any vehicles are under consideration as we continue to upsize our fleet as needed.

Our two-fold long-term acquisition plan focuses on a minimum number of specific chassis and vehicle models as possible:

A. “Reduce the training of service techs who maintain our entire fleet on site.”

B. “Effectively and efficiently maintain the high standards of 100% customer satisfaction required by Stripe-A-Zone.”

“We plan to use the F-550 forever as this model best fits our applications for efficiency and productivity.”
“Really looking forward to the F-150 Lightning for our fleet. I like the truck and my wife Kari does not like to pump fuel. Every time I get in her vehicle, the fuel gauge is on empty. With the F-150 Lightning, she’ll simply plug it in.”

FORD DEALER REQUIREMENTS
Larry Balkum, AutoNation Ford South Ft. Worth continues to provide “rapid responses and extremely efficient solutions for our needs through decades of proven service. Larry frequently brings us new transportation solutions before we are aware of the need as he understands our business goals and objectives.”
We utilize phone or text for urgent communication and Email for general communication. We use no other social media for business communications.
Future buying decisions focus on three specific areas:
Trouble free service is the strongest driver in the decision making process. Vehicle selection is driven by the vehicle’s ability to do the job and contribute to the overall Stripe-A-Zone goal. Dealer service levels must be good; however we do all of our maintenance service in house during normal operating hours.
Total cost of purchase has little or no basis on the vehicle purchase decision. Total cost of ownership is our number one success story as the excellent F-150 resale values of any pickup on the market continue to reduce total costs.
Strong business relationships drive a major portion of the purchase decisions at Stripe-A-Zone.

TRUCK EQUIPMENT
REQUIREMENTS
“Stripe-A-Zone requires the same selection criteria for our truck equipment providers as we do for the truck chassis suppliers. Mark Hensley, Commercial Equipment Sales, Knapheide Truck Equipment Center – Dallas continues to support our strong business relationship. He understands our goals and objectives while delivering products addressing required levels of service for our customers. Mark does a remarkable job providing service bodies, platforms and equipment for our Class III through Class V chassis.
Stripe-A-Zone operational philosophies “Treat others as we want to be treated – for both our customers and our suppliers.”

For more information visit us at
https://stripe-a-zone.com/

Review their equipment in action by visiting the Knapheide YouTube page @knapheide1848 and viewing the Customer Stories playlist or with your phone camera scanning the QR code.