Equipment manufacturers would not be able to succeed without the component manufacturers who provide that essential support. This year’s tour has highlighted many different types of component manufacturers: OEM Controls with joysticks, Carlisle TyrFil with polyurethane, Timken with bearings.
This event in Twinsburg, Ohio is about a different part of the industry: the labels, decals, and overlays that go on equipment. The AEM Manufacturing Express paid a visit to Visual Marking Systems (VMS) to celebrate the men and women who work at VMS and the vital work they do to support equipment manufacturers of all kinds.
“VMS makes the things that tell you whose machine it is, how to operate it safely, and where not to put your hand,” said Craig Kemmerling, Chief Revenue Office at VMS. “It’s a third-generation family business that started out cutting letters for local Northeast Ohio companies and now ships work nationwide.”
The company officially joined AEM earlier this year and pulled out all of the stops for their event. A giant 20-foot banner welcomed the Manufacturing Express onsite, along with the irresistible smell of freshly made burgers and sausage from a local family restaurant. There even was an American Red Cross bus onsite doing a blood drive as part of the celebration.
VMS is family-owned and operated, which is part of what makes involvement with the community so important to them. Each year the local fire department delivers Christmas presents to children around Twinsburg, and VMS prints the graphics that dress up the fire trucks and ambulances to look like Santa’s sleighs.
“Even though we’re family-owned, you’ll notice we operate and think very much on an enterprise level, because a lot of our customers are a multinational enterprise-style organization,” said Angela Rodino, Art Director at Visual Marking Systems. “But we’ve also been able to keep that close-knit family feel and approach to employees.”
The shop floor backs that up. VMS is vertically integrated across two ISO certified facilities, climate controlled because the adhesives demand it. Every job gets its material customized to the surface, the environment, and the lifespan. A welder built to last ten years needs a label that lasts ten years, and a fleet truck running in Phoenix gets different material than the same truck in Cleveland.
The VMS crew likes to joke about “just making stickers,”, but that work requires real precision and expertise. Safety decals can keep an operator from losing a finger. Braille and ADA compliant signage is what makes a train station navigable for the blind. That work makes a difference in people’s lives, and it doesn’t happen without the team at VMS.
VMS often speaks about how their work is built to last for the lifespan of the equipment. Looking at the work they do in Twinsburg, such as their blood drives or holiday gift drives, it’s clear that impact will last for generations.
