www.VITSinternational.com
www.VITSinternational.com


VITS International, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes high-technology equipment to the printing and packaging industry worldwide. The company was established in 1984. In 2012, Deirdre Ryder, president and CEO, purchased the company and centralized it in a 28,000 square-foot manufacturing plant in Rockland County, NY, making it a 100% woman-owned and managed domestic S Corp and certified Small Business.

The company, originally foreign-owned, encompassed many parts over the years. Divisions would come to include Blava In-line Finishing, Vits-Blava In-line Finishing, Vits America, Inc., and VITS International, Inc.

In 2002, Ryder joined the company as director of finance. At the time, Vits was part of VITS Maschinenbau in Germany, owned by Deutsche Babcock, Germany’s largest conglomerate. John Friedl, the plant manager, who had seen numerous executives come and go throughout the years, told those who interviewed Ryder, “Hire her; she’s different.”

Ryder stepped into her job just as Deutsche Babcock was about to go bankrupt, with Vits DE pulling Vits America into its bankruptcy. At that point, Ryder tried to acquire Vits America through contacts in New York City, whom she knew from her most recent M&A career. However, the Vits Group was instead acquired by Werner Deuring and his holding company in Austria. Deuring placed Ryder as managing director, a 10-year role until she acquired Vits America.

The Blava division built servo-driven variable finishing equipment for the commercial web, gravure, and flexo print markets. Vits DE acquired Blava and the American company. It then distributed and supported the Germany Rotocut QRO sheeters in North America until the printing equipment division in Germany was sold in 2011.

In 2012, Ryder was in the process of acquiring VITS International just as the company was headed to drupa, the largest printing equipment exhibition in the world, held in Düsseldorf, Germany. Ryder thought more doors would open if the company continued to have a European-owned feel rather than appearing to be an American acquirer. She wanted to keep the industry focused on a new product offering that would fill the gap created by the sale of the Rotocut line.

She succeeded. It was at that point that VITS International found its strength and filled a void in the finishing equipment market. On January 3, 2012, Vits America changed its name to VITS International, launching the new entity with a custom-designed rotary cutter for the inkjet and digital web industry. The equipment was industrial strength, built for the high speeds and wide widths of industrial manufacturing.

The manufacturing premise was to design rugged finishing equipment to meet the industry’s current and future needs once inkjet and digital presses improved and became more prevalent. Ryder wanted the equipment designed with the ability to integrate with presses that had higher production speeds and wider webs than currently available. Although the design could always be modified down to accommodate narrower webs, her thinking was to design for the point where inkjet and digital were expected to be in a few years.

With global innovation in inkjet and R&D money pouring in to support advancements in the industry, that was a wise move. At the time, the typical press was 24″ with up to 500 fpm speeds.  Today, those presses run up to 1,000 fpm on 42″ substrates. The VITS philosophy was that every product or solution was more than just a mechanical engineering process or an assemblage of metal parts.

Included in the VITS design ethos is a deep look at the current requirements, a forward look at what future needs will be, and then a systematic approach to finding ways to get that future potential built into the current machine.

Says Ryder, “When a customer buys VITS International, they are purchasing the most technologically advanced inline or near-line finishing equipment and systems in the industry. They are buying the support and expertise of the VITS team. Our print-to-cut registration is second to none. Our customer support is an ongoing partnership, and our product lines are forever evolving to meet customer needs.”

Today, VITS has interfaced with over 65 OEMs throughout its history. The company is known for high-speed sheeters, finishing components, and systems. Customers come to VITS looking for precision, custom equipment for their specific product or customer, efficiencies in lower labor and material costs, speed, and more.

“Most every project we take on is customized in one manner or another,” explains Ryder. “We’ve been known to create entirely new designs and then build, test, and put them into production within four months. Our equipment is engineered to produce consistently in a production environment with little to no downtime. It’s vital that our customers are able to stay online and meet their own customer contracts.”

In fact, because VITS International maintains its own parts inventory and internal technical support program, every VITS International customer worldwide was able to remain in production on VITS equipment during the pandemic.
As far as earning new customers, Ryder says customers are hard-won.

She explains, “Customers often shop on price, and, while VITS pricing is in line with the competition, we work harder to gain the trust of prospects versus the finishing OEMs that have unlimited marketing and sales budgets. We take our resources and focus them on our technology, engineering and R&D. However, once customers buy from us, they’re usually on board for good. It’s a dramatic process for customers to see how we can bring the future into the now with our engineering and design conceptualizing. Building long-term viability and advantages into the design mean our customers can be more competitive and achieve greater return on investment.”

VITS is UL and CE compliant. From an intellectual property standpoint, the company holds several patents for its cutter and stacker designs.

With a wide product mix, its components comprise the gamut of the manufacturing operation. There are products that feed a press – such as unwinds and splicers – and those that follow the press inline or near-line – such as infeeds, web guides, angle bars, former folders, gate folders, perforators, diecutters, gluers, registration systems, sheeters, rotary cutters, batcher stackers, divert stackers, bump turn conveyors, and punch units.

It’s a stunning range of solutions. For example, the company builds:
• Sandwich wrap systems, processing 10 lb. waxed paper
• Book lines running one, two, or three merged near-line webs, creating book blocks to feed perfect binders up to 5,000 unglued books per hour
• Multi-web lines to feed saddle stitchers
• Single web book lines running book blocks inline between the press and bindery
• Direct mail lines, calendar lines, credit card lines, and more.
“We even build modules for the other OEMs in the construction material industry,” notes Ryder.

VITS sells and distributes worldwide, primarily from the corporate office in Rockland County, NY. While the company does work with agencies and resellers, the custom nature of their work is most successful in working directly with the customer and understanding their operation.

“The customer or reseller can’t see all the places where a better design could solve a problem or improve workflow,” says Ryder. “We don’t want to be order takers because that’s a limiting role. We don’t specialize in off-the-shelf solutions. However, once we get in and see the extent of what’s possible, our engineering team can design to that – and beyond.”

The company competes on innovation. The goal is to out-compete in research, creativity, designs, engineering, quality and durability.

Says Ryder, “Our fantastic team of engineers understands our company’s history of product design. They are immersed in the current and future needs of our customers. They thrive on seeking and finding new technologies to improve upon in areas where we already have a name – as well as in new areas. I am so proud of every employee, and it’s part of our mission to find new people who will enjoy this kind of work environment and want to stay long-term.”

VITS hires on what it calls “heart” first. If someone has a good work ethic, an open mind, and is willing to learn from others, they are a candidate for being trainable.

“Our team members fulfill many diverse roles in the company, so it’s crucial that the person can perform in a culture that centers on creativity, flexibility and personal responsibility,” explains Ryder.

She adds that the company’s Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) statement is not just a boilerplate or something devised to pander to customers who require it.

“We truly believe that diversity and inclusion make us better,” she says. “As we rise to fulfill this mission, we see greater success and resiliency for our future.”

VITS International’s D&I statement: “Diversity & Inclusion is how we finish first. We are inclusive of all, inside and outside VITS. We celebrate multiple approaches and remain open to all points of view, allowing us to provide the best equipment, service and support to our diverse, international customers. At VITS, diversity drives innovation and allows the VITS team to feel valued for their unique contributions. Diversity & Inclusion is the cornerstone of our history, culture, and future.”

VITS International is a member of APTech, PIA, and Rockland Business Association. Ryder has served on the APTech Executive Board (formerly NPES) in the roles of treasurer through chair, and is back in the rotation as vice chair. She is the current chair of Global Print.

On a personal level, Ryder also serves her community on the planning commission for her town, the advisory committee for the high school AgStem program, and the Ladies Auxiliary. The company is also in the process of receiving its certification as a Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and WOSB (Woman Owned Small Business).