So was the show a success for us? Yes, absolutely. It takes a lot of work to make sure you have a success, but this year we teamed up with Provoast Automation, a top selling pneumatic and hydraulic sales force in Southern California and came away with many high qualified projects.

Many potential customers raved about the new Tension Release Tail on our Automation Series conveyors. They included James Lowery, a Design Engineer from ITM in Texas, who said, “…simply phenomenal. Loved it. I can’t wait to talk it up with the other designers and use it as soon as we have an opportunity.” And this was long before I had the chance to show him our new Pivot™ rotatable drives and discuss our five year warranty. But as you know at shows you have all of about 30 seconds and you’re done.

So from our perspective, it was a great show! From the attendees perspective there was certainly a tremendous amount to learn. And as for the “Hand Sitters” well I hope you had a good show too!

Elkhart, as we all know is in the heart of Indiana, and so is Press Automation, Inc., an extraordinary company that is making sweet music in a not so easy time to do so. Their lyrics are a bit different though, “Staying close to customers and listening to their needs,” said Budd Bowman, General Manager, “and oh yea, good old fashion hard work.” The song must be right as this company stands out as one of QC Industries’ top distributors every year and this year will be no different. As I talk to Budd about his business every year you just hear it in his voice, this small town company really cares about their business and their customers.

The family owned business was formed in 1979 by Carol and Don Bowman. Budd, their son is now at the helm and continues to thrive with the dedication of the entire Press Automation crew including the inside support team and the sales staff.

From a manufacturer’s perspective, one line in the song should say something to the effect of “we don’t try and do it all.” They listen to the customer’s needs and align themselves with high quality vendors.

This is a special company, one that probably doesn’t get enough press. They are hardworking, honest and one whose customers and vendors are lucky enough to be very much in harmony with. Sing along everyone, “prob’ly die in a small town, oh those small communities…”

Here’s how the format works:

“If a woman is interested in someone, that man will step aside and wait as the rest of the men go by.  But if another man comes by on the belt that seems better than that woman’s first choice, she can swap out the man waiting off of the belt as many times as she wants until the last man has passed by. If two or more of the women are interested in the same man, the tables turn and the man on the conveyor belt gets to choose which one he would like to wait for. After all 30 men have made it through the ‘Conveyor Belt of Love,’ each woman is left with her final choice as they embark on a date in the hope of finding a true connection.”

While we’ve done conveyors for show-business before, this doesn’t look like any conveyor we’ve ever built (in the first shot you can see a clipper lace splice, which we almost never use). It did however remind me of our own Conveyor Belt of Love, so to speak. It’s a video we shot a few years ago to prove to a customer that their conveyor could easily move — and index — their required load of 1000 lbs.

If you have a service emergency during those dates, please call our main number and leave a message. One of our on-call service technicians will return your call.

Here in Cincinnati, we kick off the holiday season each year with Balluminaria, a hot air balloon glow at Eden Park. I’d like to share this tradition with you to help get your holiday season off on the right foot.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on organizing and cataloging all the various pieces of literature we’ve produced over the past 28 years. It’s been fun to see where the company has come from, and, as a graphic designer, to trace the history of our logo over that time.

The “logo” above appeared on our first catalog in 1983. That’s the only time it ever appeared.

This logo first appeared on the cover of our 1989 catalog. It was our first official logo and versions of it were used for eight years.

Here you can also see the origins of the “QC” in our name. It comes from “Quick Conversion” which allowed our customers in the metal stamping industry to change out their dies and conveyors quickly.

This logo is the first direct predecessor of our current logo, appearing on the cover of our 1997 catalog. When this logo is reduced our name becomes nearly unreadable, but versions of it somehow persisted for seven years.

One oddity of the 1997 catalog: while the logo above appeared on the cover, the logo at right appeared on the back. To my knowledge, this is the only time the left side of the “Q” ever showed. It almost seems to have been an accident.

The logo evolved slightly for the 2001 catalog. This logo continued with numerous changes (in some versions the word “modular” is replaced with “low profile”).

This logo first appeared on the cover of our 2004 catalog and has been used without modification to this day.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick peek back at our history!

Every year our employees go all out for Halloween and this year was no exception. We had a lot of great costumes this year, but as always, there can only be one winner. Congratulations to Yvain Jomphe, our IT Team Leader — and resident Love Guru.

Our runner up was Wanda Collier, one of our purchasers for her Little Red Riding Hood inspired costume:

And in third place was Dave Endres, our General Manager:

Happy Halloween!