Shift Products Specifies United Pacific Lighting for Their Projects
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Shift Products, a Canadian manufacturer of specialized semi-truck lighting and carbon fiber fenders, opened its doors in 2008 to serve big rig customers. Based in Manitoba, Shift Products is a small business with a long-standing commitment to providing high-quality aftermarket accessory products to the semi-truck industry. President David Dyck and Sales and Operation Manager Adam Klassen were introduced to the big rig industry in their youths, attending industry tradeshows with Dyck’s father at the young age of 13. The passion Dyck and Klassen felt for the semi-truck industry led to the creation of Shift Products and the company’s original products: carbon fiber fenders.
The transition from accessory products to lighting came upon the introduction to United Pacific Industries (UPI) when a friend sent an air cooler bar for Dyck and Klassen to modify. Then, another friend gave Dyck a UPI product catalog. Dyck and Klassen’s creative thinking was triggered by the high-quality UPI lights, and the two decided to manufacture their own unique air cleaner light bars for the 2009 Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS). Designing a completely new approach to the classic look of air cleaner light bars took some ingenuity, but the two managed to present the products to the MATS attendees where they were met with enthusiasm.
“We almost weren’t able to show our Backlit Air Cleaner Light Bars at the 2009 MATS. I spent the drive down to Louisville, Kentucky perfecting them into the product we were proud to display, and the light bars captured interest. That was the moment we knew we’d hit our niche, and the Backlit Air Cleaner Light Bar became our signature look. We started in a 10 by 10 booth with these lights and our carbon fiber fenders and grew to need a 30 by 30 booth at MATS. Now, we’re presenting more fenders and lights than we ever imagined with more excitement surrounding them than we anticipated,” said David Dyck, president of Shift Products.
Shift Products has continued to expand their designs in the 11 years since the company began, offering new and unique lights, accessories, fenders and more to owner operators seeking to customize their big rigs. In a market saturated with lights, fenders and other accessories to personalize these semi-trucks, Shift Products stands out for its innovative designs, especially with their lighting.
The company’s air cleaner light bars are designed with 304 grade stainless steel to give a sleek look to the big rig during the day while allowing the lights to shine onto the air cleaner, so the light is reflected back at night. Currently, Dyck and Klassen are working on a new design of watermelon lights to unveil at 2019 MATS.
“When we’re designing new lights, we look to see what United Pacific Industries is offering for semi-trucks at the time. Right now, we’re working on a completely new watermelon lights design for 2019 MATS because these lights are extremely popular in the market, and we specify UPI lights to incorporate into our design,” Dyck said.
The decision to use United Pacific lighting products was made very early into the company’s history. Dyck’s brother purchased a 2007 Peterbilt Legacy 379, and a friend sent him an air cooler bar with instructions to modify it into their own. Shift Products had been using other lighting products which were not as high quality at this point but discovered United Pacific’s products and decided to use these lights for the air cleaner light bar. Those lights were the ones displayed at the 2009 MATS and are still one of Shift Products’ most popular items.
After that first MATS, Dyck and Klassen elected to continue using United Pacific parts in their own customized pieces. The high quality of the lights coupled with the great warranty was more than enough to convince them to continue using UPI lights, but the fact that UPI light bulbs could be purchased at shops across the U.S. and Canada made securing replacement bulbs easy for Shift customers who continually travel the country.
“If a bulb goes out, that can be a problem for semi-truck drivers. It’s not a warranty issue because bulbs do go out, so it’s important for them to know that they can go to a shop and find a bulb replacement very easily and install it quickly in order to get back on the road. Fortunately, we don’t hear of very many warranty claims because the products themselves are of such high quality,” Dyck said.
Shift Products has easily incorporated UPI lights into numerous products since the first air cleaner light bars. The watermelon lights they will be debuting at 2019 MATS are just the latest offerings in the lineup. The decade-long use of United Pacific lighting all started with Dyck and Klassen purchasing four individual lights at a local retail shop and creating something new and different out of them. Now, to keep up with the increased demand, Shift Products works directly with UPI to secure all of their lighting products.
Since 2009, sales of the products incorporating UPI lights have greatly increased. Because Shift Products started using United Pacific lights so early into the start of the business, all growth of the company has been while using UPI products. Dyck and Klassen attribute most of their success to never giving up, great employees and high-quality product offerings. Today, Shift Products continues to innovate and design new accessory items for owner-operators of big rigs all across Canada (and the united states?), allowing them to stand out and be unique amongst the crowd. With United Pacific’s original shapes and overall esthetic, Shift Products is enabled to create their own innovations while always incorporating high-quality lighting into each and every one of their products.
The transition from accessory products to lighting came upon the introduction to United Pacific Industries (UPI) when a friend sent an air cooler bar for Dyck and Klassen to modify. Then, another friend gave Dyck a UPI product catalog. Dyck and Klassen’s creative thinking was triggered by the high-quality UPI lights, and the two decided to manufacture their own unique air cleaner light bars for the 2009 Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS). Designing a completely new approach to the classic look of air cleaner light bars took some ingenuity, but the two managed to present the products to the MATS attendees where they were met with enthusiasm.
“We almost weren’t able to show our Backlit Air Cleaner Light Bars at the 2009 MATS. I spent the drive down to Louisville, Kentucky perfecting them into the product we were proud to display, and the light bars captured interest. That was the moment we knew we’d hit our niche, and the Backlit Air Cleaner Light Bar became our signature look. We started in a 10 by 10 booth with these lights and our carbon fiber fenders and grew to need a 30 by 30 booth at MATS. Now, we’re presenting more fenders and lights than we ever imagined with more excitement surrounding them than we anticipated,” said David Dyck, president of Shift Products.
Shift Products has continued to expand their designs in the 11 years since the company began, offering new and unique lights, accessories, fenders and more to owner operators seeking to customize their big rigs. In a market saturated with lights, fenders and other accessories to personalize these semi-trucks, Shift Products stands out for its innovative designs, especially with their lighting.
The company’s air cleaner light bars are designed with 304 grade stainless steel to give a sleek look to the big rig during the day while allowing the lights to shine onto the air cleaner, so the light is reflected back at night. Currently, Dyck and Klassen are working on a new design of watermelon lights to unveil at 2019 MATS.
“When we’re designing new lights, we look to see what United Pacific Industries is offering for semi-trucks at the time. Right now, we’re working on a completely new watermelon lights design for 2019 MATS because these lights are extremely popular in the market, and we specify UPI lights to incorporate into our design,” Dyck said.
The decision to use United Pacific lighting products was made very early into the company’s history. Dyck’s brother purchased a 2007 Peterbilt Legacy 379, and a friend sent him an air cooler bar with instructions to modify it into their own. Shift Products had been using other lighting products which were not as high quality at this point but discovered United Pacific’s products and decided to use these lights for the air cleaner light bar. Those lights were the ones displayed at the 2009 MATS and are still one of Shift Products’ most popular items.
After that first MATS, Dyck and Klassen elected to continue using United Pacific parts in their own customized pieces. The high quality of the lights coupled with the great warranty was more than enough to convince them to continue using UPI lights, but the fact that UPI light bulbs could be purchased at shops across the U.S. and Canada made securing replacement bulbs easy for Shift customers who continually travel the country.
“If a bulb goes out, that can be a problem for semi-truck drivers. It’s not a warranty issue because bulbs do go out, so it’s important for them to know that they can go to a shop and find a bulb replacement very easily and install it quickly in order to get back on the road. Fortunately, we don’t hear of very many warranty claims because the products themselves are of such high quality,” Dyck said.
Shift Products has easily incorporated UPI lights into numerous products since the first air cleaner light bars. The watermelon lights they will be debuting at 2019 MATS are just the latest offerings in the lineup. The decade-long use of United Pacific lighting all started with Dyck and Klassen purchasing four individual lights at a local retail shop and creating something new and different out of them. Now, to keep up with the increased demand, Shift Products works directly with UPI to secure all of their lighting products.
Since 2009, sales of the products incorporating UPI lights have greatly increased. Because Shift Products started using United Pacific lights so early into the start of the business, all growth of the company has been while using UPI products. Dyck and Klassen attribute most of their success to never giving up, great employees and high-quality product offerings. Today, Shift Products continues to innovate and design new accessory items for owner-operators of big rigs all across Canada (and the united states?), allowing them to stand out and be unique amongst the crowd. With United Pacific’s original shapes and overall esthetic, Shift Products is enabled to create their own innovations while always incorporating high-quality lighting into each and every one of their products.