D&F Equipment Sales Announces CEO/President Dawn Knox

A Culture of Improved Quality of Life for Employees and Customers Drives the Future of D&F Equipment Sales

D&F Equipment Sales, Inc., a poultry, meat, and prepared food industries equipment manufacturer and engineering supplier with headquarters in Crossville, Alabama, and another location in Springdale, Arkansas, announces new CEO/President Dawn Knox. Having grown up in the company, Knox continues a strong vision to build on the foundation of doing “Whatever it Takes” to serve the company’s customers. She adds to that vision a desire to provide a better quality of life for the D&F team and their families, the ones she has come to know through her lifetime of commitment to the company and the people that make it great.

“I’ve grown up with D&F,” shares Knox. “I was in junior high when my dad, Larry Fortenberry, founded the company. I’ve always been with D&F to help in whatever way I could, step in wherever I was needed, and be of service wherever I was asked to serve. It’s part of me. I was raised with these guys.”

As a young student, Knox worked in the administrative side of the business, assisting with general office duties and basic bookkeeping including typing up invoices and preparing quotes. She graduated high school and chose to further her education, preparing her to come back to D&F and serve in a greater capacity. Knox graduated from the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH) with a Management Information Systems Degree, and while pursuing her education, she gained valuable experience as an IT intern at Teledyne Brown.

“When I came back to D&F after graduating college, I saw an incredible need to improve our technology,” shared Knox. She went to work immediately. She implemented changes in the accounting system, added a server, and essentially connected every facet of the company through an improved IT system. As the improved technology and communications systems yielded a significant growth period for the company, a need for a larger team to help manage IT arose, propelling Knox into a more executive position. Knox started handling the administrative facets, including financial management of the company.

“I have always been interested in finances and investments, so I have really enjoyed the financial management side of the company,” said Knox. During this time, Knox played a key role in solidifying the business for future growth by conceiving and creating a full IT department, an accounting department, and a legal department. Her passion for solid investing and debt-free leadership helped to lay a foundation for future business development. It also paved the way for D&F Equipment Sales to not only survive but thrive during the COVID pandemic, allowing their customers, food processing companies who were feeding the nation, to stay in production through the necessary equipment maintenance, manufacturing, and engineering services that plants need to run smoothly.

Larry Fortenberry, Founder of D&F Equipment Sales, started the company over 35 years ago when he was a maintenance manager in a poultry processing plant. He knew the struggle of not being able to get anyone to service the equipment and how that challenge affected the productivity of the plant. With his toolbox in hand and supplies loaded in the trunk of his car, Fortenberry began a 24/7 equipment service to poultry plants. No one was doing that at the time, so the company grew very quickly.

“My dad saw there was a need. He wanted to fill that need, put food on the table for his family, and provide for his kids,” said Knox. The growth was great, and it took a lot of help, so Knox went to work in the office while her brother went to work in the shop. “My dad always said he thanked God every day that he could work and be with his kids.”

Just as Knox shares the same passion for the company that her dad did, she also shares his passion for family. She chose to spend many years working behind the scenes to benefit the company in every area of expertise she had to offer, so she could enjoy being mom to her three sons and exemplify the family-focused individual she desired to be. Her devotion to families extends today, driving her desire to build a company that can provide competitive, gainful employment for her team and their families while also creating a family atmosphere of care, trust, and loyalty in the offices and shops of the company.

During these “behind-the-scenes” years, Knox improved an antiquated IT system with software development, inventory management, accounts payable and accounts receivable systems focused on improving cost collection and profitability margins. Her efforts at this time played a key role in the company to move forward with a strong CAD and engineering team which gave them advanced knowledge to improve productivity, product offerings, and profitability. She was instrumental in implementing an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system during this time. Knox’s financial leadership through investment planning provided a foundation to be able to help her team innovate, develop, and design new equipment and processes. Her team benefited from this planning and put in the hard work to help grow the company with cutting edge potential. Continuing the mission to build a strong and stable company, Knox gained knowledge in the insurance and legal sides of the business, finding ways to provide a safer working environment to better protect the D&F employees and the customers they serve during equipment manufacturing and installations.

Knox decided many years ago to serve D&F Equipment Sales in the best way she knew possible in any given life circumstance. She lives by this same decision today. With her sons reaching adulthood, Knox can now fully embrace the role of leadership of the company. As CEO/President of D&F Equipment Sales, Dawn Knox casts a renewed vision to improve operational efficiencies, increase research and development of new technology, better serve customers through the replacement part program, and develop the youth leadership of tomorrow through training and recruitment of young talent.

“I am a very driven individual, but it is the connections with people that drive my focus towards growth and success,” shared Knox. “Our people spend a large amount of their time at work. At D&F, we seek ways to improve the quality of our work environment while also improving our productivity, so we can improve profits for the betterment of our employees and their families. Our drive for improvement also extends to our family of customers. Through continued focus on process and equipment innovations, we strive to save our customers time and money which in turn will improve their profitability and culture for their employees.” 

Knox concluded, “As a family-owned company with a team of employees who feel like family, we are working together to innovate our processes and equipment for the improved quality of life for our employees and our customers.”

D&F Equipment Sales, Inc. is proud to announce Adam Walker as the new Vice President of Operations and Administration. Mr. Walker has been with D&F Equipment for 15 years and has served in many positions including Production, Sales, Parts Manager, IT Manager, Western Division General Manager, Accounting Manager during his tenure. “I believe in doing ‘Whatever It Takes’ to support Team D&F and the great industries that we serve”.  Mr. Walker is a lifelong resident of Northeast Alabama and currently resides in Albertville, AL with his wife, Natasha, and six children.

D&F Equipment Sales, Inc. is proud to announce Joey Knott as the Vice President of Sales and Engineering. Mr. Knott has been with the company for 33 years and has held many positions within the company. He began as a shop technician then to project supervision, assistant service manager, service manager and Director of Operations and Service. “I am blessed to grow up in the D&F Family and be part of this awesome team and value highly my relationships with teammates and customers. Our Company is built of many great people and we will continue to build and support them to sustain the future of D&F for years to come.”

D&F Equipment Sales, Inc. is proud to announce Johnny Knott as the Director of Service and Installation. Mr. Knott has been with the company for 29 years in all positions in the Service and Installation Division. As a tenured leader in this group, he has managed many large-scale installations and is poised to take our Service and Installation to the next level. Mr. Knott is also a lifelong resident of Northeast Alabama where he lives with his wife Laura and son Braxton.

Brock Hood promoted to Service & Installation Manager after 10 years of service.  Brock has work in all facets of our shops as a supervisor and then changing to S&I to become a Onsite Project Manager, then to Assistant Service Manager.

Congratulations to our teammates for their accomplishments!

Larry Fortenberry joins Alabama Poultry Hall of Fame

On August 16th, 2019 Larry Fortenberry, founder of D&F Equipment Company was inducted into the Alabama Poultry Hall of Fame at the Charles C. Miller, Jr. Poultry Research and Education Center at Auburn University. His journey began in 1969 and continues today as D&F and it subsidiaries account for over 300 employees and 2 divisions servicing the entire continental United States. Our warmest congratulations!

D&F Equipment receives Patent for finishing process

The SanGuard high performance finish is the result of an effort to find a better way to finish our equipment in our meat and prepared division. Our customer was looking for a more easily cleanable finish than what we had provided them in the past. They were suggesting that we manufacture our equipment without glass beading and if possible leave that step out altogether.

Research was done to see if there was a way to bridge the gap of glass beading and material smoothness that was acceptable. We found a way to bead the material as usual and were successful in reducing the roughness by approximately 11% on structural metals and making the finish more consistent. We also tested this finish on 12ga and we were able to reduce the average Ra to 35-50 micro-inches on gauged metal finishes. After perfecting this process, we now achieve average of Ra 20-40 micro-inches on gauged metals. Per the chart above, our finish in terms of smoothness is in the same range as polished without the extra cost. We were awarded patent #10,292,399 on May 21, 2019 with this process and has been our standard finish in production since 2016.