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Growth 50
By Geoff Zielulewicz, October 17, 2003, The Business Journal
Thomas Auth didn’t plan to run Vomela Specialty Co. when he bought the vinyl graphics business in 1990, and sales were around $3.5 million.
But when former CEO Dave Degree had some health complications that prevented him from heading Vomela, Auth stepped in about a year ago.
“I was looking for something to do again, so I came back on the business,” Auth said. “He works for me half-time now and makes sure I don’t do something stupid.”
Stupid moves don’t seem to be much of a problem for Vomela. It has seen revenue growth of almost 77 percent over the past three years.
Vomela has culled top talent and accounts through competitor acquisitions. It has diversified its client base enough to balance any slowdown in a certain area.
“The acquisitions have been a major driver of revenue growth,” Auth said.
Though he doesn’t plan out acquisitions extensively, he said, when an opportunity presents itself, he will move on it. The purchase of local competitor Rainbow Signs a year ago was one such example.
Rainbow had been a significant player in the retail interior and point-of-display sign industry.
“It was a business that had a lot of profits and we ended up getting a fair amount of revenue for essentially nothing,” he said.
Auth brought over salespeople and designers from Rainbow who already knew their customers. He recently hired five employees from an East Coast company that he had acquired, without even meeting them. He said he knew their work and accounts well enough.
“We could meet them later,” Auth said. “If we didn’t like them, we could let them go.”
This opportunistic approach to acquisitions has helped Vomela stay agile with regard to grabbing market share, he said.
Though Vomela’s retail client base became soft about six months ago, the RV graphic market has been largely resistant to the current economic state, Auth said. As the baby boomers enter the retirement years, many have some money saved and RV financing is easy, Auth said. Because of international uncertainty, more people are keeping their travel plans domestic as well.
Vomela’s increase in business has allowed the company to be considered for larger jobs, Auth said. He cited Vomela’s recent work for Toys R Us, where it got a contract to install 65 scrolling windows smack dab in the middle of Times Square. The company also is involved in a three-year program to replace the logos on 100,000 vehicles for United Parcel Service Inc.
Alan Anderson, vice president of the Fairfax, Va.-based Screenprinting & Graphic Imaging Association International, a trade group to which Vomela belongs, said the company constantly seeks ways to improve its operations.
“They are constantly discussing things and sending people to training,” Anderson said. “That is one reason that they are such a strong company.”
Vomela also is at the forefront of using digital imaging. This and its dedication to quality put the company at the top of the industry, he said. “Few companies are doing better.”
The current five-year plan for Vomela is that there is no five year-plan.
“We don’t feel a lot of pressure to do anything, other than the pressures we put on ourselves,” Auth said, referring to a company that includes his son and son-in-law. “We are just going to see, in a controlled manner, how nice of a business we can build.”
Auth said he has no inkling to take Vomela public.
“I don’t need the money or the complication,” he said. “If you don’t need the money, why would you put yourself through that?”