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About Us

Modern distribution warehouse centrally located for fast and economical shipments across USA

We operate an efficient 5,000 m2 warehouse in the middle of the country and provide excellent customer service.   In addition to B2B shipments to retailers, we can manage and/or support Amazon business and other sales platforms.    We handle fulfillment for consumer, Amazon FBM/FBA or other sales platforms.   We provide same-day shipments for all orders received by 2 pm.

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Factory Door Leadership Team

Rick Piester, President

Rick established Factory Door LLC in 2018 after leaving his position at Hobbico, formerly the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor in the hobby market. Over the prior 32 years, Rick helped Hobbico grow to $400 million in annual turnover.  Rick was named Vice President in 1991 and served in many leadership roles within Hobbico including Marketing, Promotions, Product Development, International, Supplier Management, Engineering and Service and Support.

Most recently Rick served as Chief Product Officer, overseeing all of Hobbico’s proprietary product lines and worldwide product teams.  This included responsibility for over 100 employees and included 6 product groups located in USA, UK, Germany and China. 

Rick has many years of experience leading the development and marketing of numerous successful toy and hobby products.  Rick led the creation of Hobbico’s house brands such as RealFlight simulator, Dromida R/C vehicles, Tactic radio systems and accessories, Aquacraft boats and others.  Rick played a key role in all of Hobbico’s acquisitions including Revell USA, Revell Germany, Axial, ARRMA, Team Durango, Estes and many others.   Rick secured Hobbico’s exclusive distribution rights for many overseas brands.  

Prior to joining Hobbico, Rick began his career in 1975 at his family’s chain of hobby and toy stores in Arizona. 

Gordon Cockburn, Marketing Director

Gordon has over 40 years of experience in sales and marketing of hobby and toy products.   Until he left Hobbico in early 2018, he served for 25 years in key roles at including responsibility for marketing of all of the company’s proprietary product lines.  

For over 10 years, Gordon led the proprietary product marketing staff, handling all marketing strategy, new product introductions, advertising, promotions, social media, online sites, publicity and marketing message development.  Gordon set the key marketing strategy and managed a large staff handling the marketing for over 35 product brands.  He established the methodology that allowed Hobbico to excel at marketing its key product lines while doing so very efficiently, with total marketing costs of just 1.5 – 1.7% of sales.

Prior to this overall marketing responsibility, Gordon was leader of Hobbico’s exclusive product lines and managed the growth of American distribution of Futaba, O.S. Engines, Kyosho and others.

Gordon has experience with all phases of sales and marketing including numerous, successful concept-to-market development projects.  He won awards for several products that sold over one million units in the toy, hobby, mass market and consumer electronics channels.    Most recently, Gordon served as Director of New Business Development where he led the creation of new product lines and new categories of business for Hobbico. Prior to Hobbico, Gordon worked for Robbe Modellsport, Airborne Hobby Distributors and his family’s hobby store business in Delaware.

Janet Gallivan, Operations Director

With over 27 years at Hobbico, Janet has a wealth of experience in managing operations in marketing and product development. 

Until she left the company in early 2018, Janet ran all administrative functions for Hobbico’s Product Division in USA and throughout the world.   Janet developed and oversaw systems for project management, project delivery schedules and team member accountability.  She oversaw all divisional administrative functions including budgeting and departmental accounting as well as show and event planning and management.   Janet was responsible for initiating and managing over $1 million in cost savings initiatives over the last 4 years.

Janet also handled all research and reporting functions for Hobbico’s product teams and all divisional results.  Her strength in research provided excellent, actionable information to Hobbico’s product developers.   And her strong analytical skills provided keen insights in sales and market trends for Hobbico’s upper management.  

Janet managed many complex projects for Hobbico’s Product Division and for the company as a whole.  She has a keen eye for details and makes sure that projects get completed on time.   Janet served on several company-wide improvement initiatives and always contributed at the highest level based on her strengths in organization, research and analysis.

Aside from her experience at Hobbico, Janet previously served as the Executive Director of a private elementary school and as Risk Analyst in the insurance industry.

FAQ
FAQ

Q&A with Rick Piester, President of Factory Door:

Why did you start Factory Door?

“For the last 20 years, I ran a large product development and sourcing team in the consumer electronics toy industry.  I have worked with many factories in Asia, particularly in China.  In recent years I have seen that many of those have developed their own products and innovations but they have difficulty getting into the market. Normally they have to find a distributor but that doesn't usually achieve their long term goals… establishing their brand and building their own identity in the market. The typical distributor has his own interests that don’t always align with the factory’s long term goals.  We see opportunity to help by providing the services in America that an overseas factory needs to be successful.”

 

What are the key services that you offer?

“We have a wide array of services but most of our clients want our help with development of their sales and marketing strategies.   There are many ways to enter the market.  We can help outline those options and provide recommendations that best suit the situation for the factory and the market that they occupy.  

We also offer many “on site” services that are needed to address the market such as after-sale customer support and product services.   We also offer warehousing and logistics so local inventory can be readily available to customers.

One of the most unique things we offer are branding services.  Our team has created dozens of successful brands.  We bring decades of experience to help develop a branding strategy to build your company’s presence in America and Europe.”

 

Do you have experience in my industry?

“We have experience in many different industries but our methodology works in virtually any type of business.   We take a pragmatic approach that focuses on maximizing the strengths of the company and its products.  We follow principles that have been refined over the last 20 years and produced dozens of successful brands and hundreds of product line launches.”

Contact Info
Factory Door LLC
3002 Apollo Drive, Suite 10
Champaign, IL  61822

+1 (217) 402-2040

China Office Tel 13524695608
 
email: info@factorydoor.com

WeChat - English: rpiester 
WeChat - Chinese: Futureface-2025
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