VM Systems, Inc. History

 

Toledo native Ron Gabel joined two former business associates who founded VM Systems in 1973.

VM Systems was born in 3,000 square feet of leased space at the ARCO facility.

The new company employed fifteen people, including Ron and his two partners.

In 1978, Ron bought out his partners and took over the business on his own.

The contract jobs were simple, amounting to about $925,000 in gross sales.

"Back then we were just your everyday HVAC contractor doing basic HVAC work,

mostly local," Ron says. "We did Don Scott Chevrolet, restaurants like Max & Erma's,

print shops, things like that. We were not making a ton of money, but we were busy."

In 1981, Ron built a new 10,000-square-foot facility just down the street from ARCO

on Hill Avenue and moved the company into impressive new headquarters.

A 5,500-square-foot warehouse was added in 1984.

By the late 1980s, gross sales at VM Systems reached about $8 million

and the company had approximately 50 employees. By 1992, 95 percent of

VM Systems' business was HVAC and spec work, while five percent was welded construction - commonly called "heavy metal." Recognizing the potential business in the Toledo area's "heavy metal" industrial market, Ron invested in a shop addition and equipment purchases, along with personnel selections, VM Systems steadily gained recognition in the Toledo market as a company that was not only a competent HVAC contractor, but also the one to call for any type of industrial application -- including design and build capabilities.

Because of the increasing success and recognition of VM Systems' industrial division, 50 percent of the company's volume is HVAC plan and spec, 45 percent is industrial, and 5 percent is specialty fabrication.

In 1994, VM Systems added a 1,400-square-foot office addition and purchased a former city recycling facility and turned it into a shipping and receiving facility. A CAD trailer was added in early 2000. Ron's sons Ken and Craig joined the business as well, helping push gross sales to a peak of $18.5 million in 1999 by landing such jobs as the new Jeep plant and the new state prison - both $4 million projects.

Today VM Systems has more than 100 employees, most of them union sheet metal workers. More than a dozen people have been with the company for more than 20 years. VM Systems has continually logged more than triple the sheet metal hours worked per year over its nearest competitor.

The company's work can be seen in all parts of northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, including Fifth Third Field for the Toledo Mud Hens baseball team, the University of Toledo, the University of Michigan, many Kroger stores, Westfield Shopping Center/Franklin Park Mall, St. Luke's Hospital, Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, St. Vincent's Heart Center, Levis Commons, Arrowhead Park and many area school projects including Penta Career Center.

"I've created a snowball effect," Ron says. "It was very small when I started. As I have added employees, I have continued to work harder so I can give them 40 hours of work each week. It's my employees that have caused me to continue to grow. There never really has been a business plan, so to speak. I've been motivated by the fact that I have good workers out there who need steady employment."