Dieter’s Accessories is marking its 50th anniversary after growing from a home garage operation in rural Ontario into a supplier serving the North American heavy-duty trucking industry.

The company was founded in 1976 by Dieter Hohendorn, a trained metal fabricator from Germany, who started Dieter’s Truck Shop by building stainless steel truck parts and sleeper cabs in the family garage.

Pete Hohendorn, Dieter’s son and former company president, said in a news release that his father spent long hours in the garage manufacturing everything from small parts to complete sleeper cabs.

As truck manufacturers began offering optional sleeper cabs in the late 1970s, drivers found many of them cramped and difficult to access, the company said. Hohendorn said his father responded by designing versions that were larger, more comfortable and easier to enter and exit.

The business later expanded beyond custom fabrication. It incorporated as Dieter’s Metal Fabricating in 1981 and moved to Waterloo, Ont., in 1984. In 1986, it began selling directly to OEMs.

Supplying products to OEMs

By 2000, the company said it was supplying all major heavy-duty truck OEM aftermarket programs and supporting production lines across North America. It achieved ISO certification in 2004 and later implemented the TS16949 quality system.

In 2011, Dieter’s consolidated operations into a 60,000-square-foot facility in Cambridge, Ont. That same year, it acquired the Panelite brand name and product drawings, relaunching the Panelite accessory line to OEMs in 2012.

Dieter’s is now part of High Bar Brands.

“When we were approaching the 50-year point, I came to realize that it’s time for me to step aside and let someone with a greater skillset and resources take the company to the next level,” Hohendorn said in the release. “High Bar Brands will be able to do that very thing.”