SPENCER LOVELESS - DUSTLESS TECHNOLOGIES AND MERIT 3D
Rural Economic Growth
By Bianca Dumas | Photo courtesy of Spencer Loveless
SPENCER LOVELESS, CEO OF DUSTLESS TECHNOLOGIES ADN MERIT 3D IN PRICE, UTAH, remembers his dad, Mike, as an energetic, work-hard, play-hard type who was always tinkering.
In 1983, Mike, a large equipment mechanic who worked at a coal-fired power plant in Emery County, invented a vacuum that could remove ash from his home fireplace without spreading a cloud of dust all over the house or catching fire from a hot ember.
Mike Loveless’s original design was a canister lined with a fireproof filter which got its suction from the household vacuum. After several iterations and sales to friends and neighbors, he created and patented an all-in-one ash vacuum, then a wet/dry vac. He eventually moved the operation out of his garage and into a small industrial building on the outskirts of Price.
Spencer graduated from Utah Valley University in 2007 and came home to work alongside his dad, the two sharing an office. A year later, Mike was tragically killed in an airplane accident.
Just before his dad’s passing, Mike and Spencer were working on their first vacuum accessory.
Spencer remembers Mike talking about that project, a sander attachment, saying, “Spencer, I don’t think this is gonna work, but I don’t want you to stop trying.” His dad’s encouragement to keep trying became Spencer’s inspiration through the tough years that followed. In 1990, he received his first patent on that attachment, which came to be known as the Dust Buddie Shroud.
Today, Dustless Technologies sells five vacuum models, dust control shrouds for grinding, drilling and cutting, and all the necessary attachments and accessories.
As CEO, Spencer Loveless calls himself “a very optimistic person.” That attitude has carried him through several trials and has helped him keep the business going through challenges, including Covid.
“We had a 400 dollar vacuum that we couldn’t sell because we were missing a four dollar part that was stuck in China,” he says of that time. The company solved the problem by making their own part on a 3D printer they bought secondhand from Utah State University Eastern. They soon improved the quality and cost of their prints and began supplying parts to other businesses stymied by Covid distribution bottlenecks.
By November 2020, Merit 3D was incorporated and was mass manufacturing 3D printed parts for themselves and a list of customers. They developed processes and resins which make 3D printed products stronger and smoother than previously possible, and which meet manufacturing, medical or food safety certifications.
Local job creation is another big motivation for Loveless, who hopes to hire even more as his companies expand. He’s hopeful about that because of the high quality of workers in Carbon County.
“Part of my leadership philosophy, which comes from the Speed of Trust by Steven R. Covey, is being able to trust people,” Loveless says. “I believe that the more you can trust them and give them freedom to do what you need them to do, the more they will succeed.”
He wants to give people stable jobs that pay well, offering very competitive benefits including unlimited time off. Employees manage their own schedules, making sure that the work gets done while having the flexibility to respond to kids, family, illness, and the need for rest and recuperation. Loveless also does his best to place people in positions that suit their natures, rather than try to overcome human nature with policies and procedures.
Loveless’s wife, Marcy, is his support system and “shoulder to cry on.” In addition, she operates Carbon Cares for Kids, a 501c(3) charity, which she founded nine years ago after she found out that dozens of local kids were going hungry over the weekends. Now the charity supplies 200 weekly take-home meals for kids flagged by teachers and counselors. About 2,000 people volunteer every year.
“A community takes care of each other,” Marcy says. Based on that value, the charity operates entirely on local donations and volunteers, not government grants. This year, Carbon Cares for Kids was able to give a full one-year scholarship to a first-generation college student.
The charity, businesses and family are parts of an integrated whole in which working hard, taking responsibility and caring for others are part of the culture. Dustless Technologies is a drop-off point for bulk food deliveries and its trucks are used for out of town bulk grocery pickups. The Loveless kids help with staging the food ahead of volunteer groups, and they are always looking for business opportunities of their own.
They’ve been encouraged to start lawn mowing businesses and sell cookies door-to-door. “They’re learning that they can make more as a small entrepreneur than they can making minimum wage,” Loveless says.
The type of entrepreneurship one chooses can make a big difference to a rural community. Some businesses help local money circulate, but others bring in money from outside. Most of the customers for Dustless Technologies and Merit 3D are not located in Utah, and Loveless is aware that catching those clients is what builds a local economy. To that end, Loveless says, “The world is your fishing pond.”