Brett has over 25 years of experience in production engineering, development, and management in the performance ceramic materials industry. He is tasked with managing and expanding all aspects of the VTI’s metallizing and hard coating services. A self-described science and technology junkie, when not attempting to broaden his mind, he can be found enjoying the activities New York’s Finger Lakes region has to offer.
Vergason Technology, Inc. is pleased to announce the signing of Surface Modification Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (www.smt.co.in) as our authorized Sales and Service agent and PVD equipment supplier in India. SMT has significant competencies in the areas of Industrial Vacuum Systems Equipment and Service. They are dedicated to offering customers the best technology solutions with world renowned brands and product, along with high quality standards. We are very excited to have them on board as an excellent complement to the Vergason Technology, Inc. network of International Partners!
Here is VTI welcoming Dr. Umesh Mhatre, managing director of SMT, along with Gary Vergason, owner of VTI, and Josh Soper, President of VTI.
Vergason Technology, Inc. is excited to announce changes in leadership. As of July 1, 2023, Josh Soper is promoted to President. Josh has excelled at VTI for the last 8 years and has served most recently as the Vice President of Operations. Josh is versed in all aspects of our business and is well suited for the role as President. We are excited and look forward to growing under his leadership.
Mark Fitch, the outgoing President has served the company well for the past 18 years. He is looking forward to semi-retirement but will continue with the company in an advisory role as the Senior Business Development Officer and on the Board of Directors. In this new role, Mark will focus his attention on PVD system opportunities and will help develop and cultivate large commercial opportunities. We are thankful for his leadership and guidance through some very difficult challenges and are very happy to retain his services in business development.
As part of this reorganization, Bruce Deiseroth has exited VTI as the former VP of Sales and Marketing. We wish Bruce the best in his future endeavors and thank him for his service to Vergason Technology.
We wish to reassure all our customers during this transition that our dedication to excellent customer service, quality equipment design and manufacture, and the best PVD coating services remains our focus. We look forward to working and growing with you all!
We are very proud to share this breaking news from the Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC)!
Our Founder and CEO Gary Vergason has just been named as the recipient of the very prestigious Nathaniel H. Sugerman Memorial Award. This annual award recognizes influential leaders in the field of Vacuum Coating, and we could not be happier for Gary! The award will be presented on May 9, 2023 at the annual SVC Technical Conference in Washington DC. Please join us in congratulating him for this very noteworthy honor!
Read the full award details here
Vergason Technology would like to welcome two new assets to the team.
Marshall Leininger - Senior Coatings and Process Engineer at Vergason Technology
Former General Manager and Technical Director at Helios Coatings Inc. for 17 years, Marshall joins the team to help continue development on unique PVD processes for Automotive and General Industrial applications. Marshall has been involved many aspects of cycling from recreational riding, to national competition, to event management on the world professional level. He is an active promoter of women's cycling having worked with women's junior development teams and individual professional women cyclists on the UCI world platform. Marshall is currently a USAC / UCI licensed Masters cyclist.
Laura Smoulder - Customer Service Representative
Laura joins the team and brings experience as a Marketing Coordinator where she demonstrated a history of working in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Computer Networking, Corporate Website Management, Customer Service, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
Find us at the #IMTS Show! West Building, Level 3—Booth #433014
Please stop by to discuss your PVD coating requirements!
Vergason Technology specializes in design and manufacture of innovative PVD coating systems, as well as operating a full-service toll coating center, at our Upstate NY Headquarters.
For over 35 years, our thin-film coating equipment and coating services has helped clients apply beautiful and long-lasting PVD coatings to industrial tooling, automotive components, decorative items, consumer electronics, sporting goods, home hardware, medical devices, and many other products.
Link to register: https://www.xpressreg.net/register/imts0922/landing.asp?lang=en-US&psh=IMTS&sc=IMTSTIXTH
Gary Vergason and Jim Keppel at Truck-Lite in Falconer, NY 1987.
Truck-Lite had purchased a metallizer from a lighting supplier in New Jersey that had serious design flaws and vacuum leaks. After changing out some of the vacuum valves (with real vacuum valves) and repairing the leaks, the system could finally produce thermally deposited aluminum coatings. The small 12 X 12-inch chamber had cycle times of around 10-minutes. Their goal was to turn this system into a production unit, which would have been impossible based on it’s cycle times.
VTI designed a system and built a full-scale model to pitch to Truck-Lite’s management. The original design was for a three-chamber load-lock machine that would cycle faster than an injection molding machine, so the substrates could be coated as they exited the molder, when they are the cleanest, water vapor free and without a paint base coating. We put the model in the back of my Father’s pick-up truck and headed out to the meeting at 5:00am. Just outside of Elmira, the stake-rack sides, cover and model flew out of the truck and a tractor-trailer hit the model at Interstate speeds, shattering it into many pieces. Dodging traffic, we put the pieces back into the truck and resecured the load.
We were 20-minutes late getting to the Truck-Lite meeting and when we told them that we prepared a model, but it was damaged in transit, they went bonkers and wanted to bring the model in and tape it back together for the presentation. Needless to say, they rather quickly placed an order for the deposition-only module of the system and when it was commissioned, the system cycled air-to-air in 37 seconds coating 4 Ford high mount stop lights at a time.
At this time, metallizers being supplied into the automotive lighting industry were large batch (4 to 6-feet in diameter) systems coating hundreds of parts that were shipping in from a molder or the molding department. So, the parts were molded, boxed, shipped, unboxed, metalized, re-boxed and shipped. With this new technique, coating the parts as they exited the molder saved all those contaminating steps and reduced the scrap rate from 15-20% to less than 1%.
The rest is history.
What is P-TECH? P-TECH is an Academy where students learning is project-based and includes ongoing workplace learning experiences.
Gary Vergason (Founder) and Joe Howe had the pleasure of hosting a group students from the TST BOCES P-TECH Program. Gary provided the students with an overview of PVD coating technologies and lead a tour of the facility followed by a fun Q&A session.
The team at VTI enjoyed spending time with them and support the P-TECH motto, “Learning shall be meaningful, relevant, and empowering!”.
Thank you comments from the students.
"Thank you, Vergason Technology, for taking time out of your day to give us a tour of your work site. It was interesting and the machines made funny smells, it was fun.”
"Thank you for taking the time out of your day for us to come over and get a tour of your factory. The explanation of the multiple processes you do to coat different items was really interesting."
"Thank you for letting us come to your factory. It was cool because the coating process is cool and it smelt weird which made it more fun along with all the cool machines you have to use."
"Thank you for letting us take time out of your day to give us a tour of the amazing business you have created”
"Thank you for the opportunity to come to your facility”
Vergason Technology has been featured in an article about the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. Multiple EPA SBIR projects have focused on designing greener methods or using greener materials for metal plating, of which Vergason is one. Read the full article.
