Sons follow in dad’s footsteps

David Humphries and his three sons, Dustin, Derek and Dallas have found sucess through working together at Triple H Electronics located in Red Bay. | Nathan Strickland/FCT

For some people, working with family members could potentially end up disastrous, but for David Humphries and his three sons the workweek seems to fly by because of their close family relationship.

Humphries is described as a man of many admirable traits with multiple titles, serving as President of D&L International Brokerage and President/CEO of Triple H Electronics, both located on Gates Street in Red Bay.

Humphries said his curiosity of all things electronic really pushed him to open up his own business.

“I started back when I was a teenager tinkering with car radios, then eventually got a job installing satellites,” he said. “I also was involved with installing and playing around with church and school sound systems. Eventually one business converted into the other and I opened up my own business in 1989 naming it Triple H Electronics, with the name stemming from myself, my dad Marvin and Richard Hammock.”

Humphries said his creation of “Triplevision” really helped his business take flight and be successful.

“Triplevision is our own private label name brand,” he said. “We create a design for a product then send it through our own brokerage to a factory overseas, then they put it together and send us back the final product with our name stamped on it.”   

Humphries said every product that is shipped back is tested inside their media lab then stored in their own warehouse facility.

“I just enjoy figuring stuff out, making products work and making electronic stuff easy for consumers to control,” he said.

 Humphries said both of his businesses go hand and hand with one another.

“We are the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) electronic supplier of the R.V. and Marine Industry and Horse Trailer manufacturer,” he said about Triple H Electronics. “As far as D&L International Brokerage goes, we export and import products. We currently have three factories in China and one in South Korea. We have also been deemed as the largest OEM Panasonic distributor in the world.”

Humphries said the company has created around 2,000 different products that have been sold to numerous R.V. Industries.

Some of the items that the company creates include rear view camera systems, GPS navigation systems, sound systems, high-definition media interface cables, pretty much anything that has to do with electronics. The company’s newest designed product is a “sound bar” that serves as a music player with IPOD capabilities sending 5.1 decimals of sound giving off the surround sound effect.

Triple H Electronics has also played a hand in providing Franklin County schools with media equipment as well as security systems.

Humphries said sometimes the job calls for him to travel and give seminars to dealerships teaching them how to use the company designed products.

“We have literally been everywhere,” he said. “I imagine I have almost covered all 50 states along with Canada and Mexico sharing product information with dealerships at their own location.”

Triple H Electronic prides itself on having a full service staff available when needed.

Humphries said the best part about the job is that he gets to work with his three sons, Dustin, 30, Derek, 27, and Dallas, 25, everyday.

“I’ve got the best of everything here,” he said. “I get to work with my sons everyday. The boys and me have breakfast and lunch together everyday, no fussing or fighting. It really means everything in the world to me. We have a lot of fun working together. It also helps each workday go by faster.”

Derek Humphries said its not so bad working under his dad.

“I like it here,” he said. “There is no place else I’d rather work. There is nothing bad about it.”

Derek also said it has turned out to be “pretty cool” working with his brothers.

“We all get along really well,” he said. “My brother Dallas and me give my older brother Dustin a hard time by giving him the title of ‘warehouse manager’ but we just joke around like that all the time and it makes the workday go by pretty quickly.”

The Humphries brothers said they have learned a lot from their dad, so much in fact they have even spun off their own business called “3Dz Electronics,” which deals more with custom installs like car audio systems, side cameras and rope lighting.

“We started our own business about 10 years ago doing a lot through the Internet,” Derek said. “My oldest brother Dustin is the President, I’m the V.P. and Dallas serves as secretary and treasurer. We use to have a show room on Main Street but we decided to go ahead and sale out that building for other purposes.”

Humphries said his secret to success includes “a lot of hard work, gray hair, long hours and God’s help.”

The Humphries clan said it is possible another warehouse could be built in Iowa, but as of right now they plan on staying together and working together to keep the family business a successful one.