Though people sometimes joke that the parts they produce to create linkages are “just pieces of steel.”

VanAire’s products are custom specialties made with precision. Before they began doing what they do, there was a need for such work.

Richard (“Dick”) VandeVusse worked for a valve and actuator distributor for about 17 years, said Anthony (“Tony”) Lambert, one of three current co-owners along with Eric Miller and Steve Soderman.

“He (VandeVusse) realized that there was a problem in this industry. He could not get a consistent quality mounting kit to mount an actuator to the valve,” Lambert said.

In the process of checking purchase orders and assembling kits to be sent out, Michelle Lynch measures a VanAire product to ensure that each package contains the correct parts. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

“A lot of the valve manufacturers were going out with napkin drawings to job shops to get linkage kits made,” Miller added. “Dick knew that that wasn’t right, because he was in that industry.”

As the story goes, VandeVusse, an engineer, started designing and making brackets out of his two-car garage. He was making them for his then-employer until they reminded him that their area was distribution, not manufacturing — so VandeVusse parted ways with that company and continued his undertaking.

Articles of incorporation for Vanaire Inc. were filed in September 1987, though at first the name was used not for the current business but for projects related to VandeVusse’s airplane, current VanAire Human Resource and Safety Director Jodi Possi said.

About 30 years ago, the growing business moved out of the garage in Danforth and into a small facility in the North Bluff Industrial Park in Gladstone. In 1996, the City of Gladstone issued the young company a $45,000 loan to help VanAire expand. By that point, the operation was making wastewater treatment equipment as well and employed 10 people, according to a Daily Press article by Timothy Bishop.

The two key parts of VanAire’s business are for the production of hardware like couplings, bolts and brackets, custom-engineered to join specific sizes of valves and actuators; and a line of wastewater systems products, such as Dissolved Air Flotation tanks that are used in places such as food processing facilities, oil drilling operations, car washes and more to separate suspended solids from water before the water is returned to city systems.

Grant Garling smiles as he works dipping a rack of couplings into a cleaning solution before the parts are nickel-coated. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

Lambert said that when he was hired in ’96, VanAire operated out of a 1,000-square-foot facility. Miller came on board about a year later.

“It was pretty intense as far as the amount of people making parts, and the amount of parts we were trying to make, and our processes were pretty slow,” Miller said in a company-made video. “Eventually, we rented the entire building. We grew out of that, and in ’99 started building the building that we’re currently in now. We moved over here in the spring of 2000.”

Only a couple years later, an addition was built onto the building. Now, the floorspace of the VanAire facilities is 45,000 square feet.

About 2003, VanAire bought a business called Gladstone Metals, which made steel chutes. An asset they gained in that transaction was robotic welding, Possi said.

VandeVusse was interested in technological advancements; he discussed computer capabilities in the late ’90s and expressed a desire to seek energy innovations. He ended up founding Michigan’s first biodiesel processing center: Ag Solutions, which was developed as a subsidiary of VanAire in 2006.

After Dick’s unexpected death in 2008, VanAire was forced to evolve. It was difficult to lose him, as he was not just a boss, staff said in the company video.

“He was a very knowledgeable person, but also very inquisitive as well, and wanted to learn more about people and processes and what was important to them,” Possi said. “He had this amazing, hearty laugh. He just did a really good job of captivating his audience. He was definitely a salesman, and taught us a lot throughout the years — about people, trusting people, trusting ourselves.”

VandeVusse’s widow and brother stepped in after his death, and the brother, Bill VanDeVusse, had what VanAire needed at the time — financial know-how.

“I knew we had debt, but I didn’t know how much debt,” Miller said. “That was a little scary. It was for all of us. We did spending freezes. We had the only layoff that we’ve ever had, all in one day.”

But the company does seem to have grown stronger afterwards.

“We had more people that took on more roles and just kind of found their own place at VanAire, rather than looking to Dick all the time for answers,” Possi said.

Additionally, “when VanAire became debt free, it allowed more autonomy to problem-solve and upgrade equipment,” employee John Winker said.

Over the years, VanAire has been working on becoming more efficient while maintaining precision and quality. Automated processes assisting in timeliness have been incorporated, which the owners say alleviate workload and make things more convenient for customers. Software developed internally for customer use, and now a web-based program allows customers to design their own custom kits and get prices rapidly at any hour.

People — customers and about 85 employees — remain highly valued, Lambert said. He described a time when there was an emergency and a client in New York needed a replacement part that day. Although the end recipient initially doubted VanAire’s abilities to deliver, the Gladstone business hired a plane and delivered the part within hours in an almost unbelievable story of customer service.

“The culture that was built here at VanAire before I even walked through the door was impressive,” Soderman said. “I remember thinking back to myself, ‘This is how people are supposed to be treated and how customers are supposed to be treated,’ but I’ve never seen it in action until I came here.”

The owners want locals to know about the opportunities for employment at VanAire. They work closely with the Intermediate School District and Career and Technical Education programs and offer work study and internships an a range of fields. Soderman pointed out that the various areas at VanAire require machinists, inspectors, designers, computer coders, accountants and leaders.

When asked about a vision for the future, Soderman said, “We’re going to continue to invest in our machinery and equipment to keep getting more efficient on that. I really do think that at some point, AI — with our software and what we’re doing — is going to really help understand the industries better, be more predictive. … It seems like things are going bigger.”

VanAire already has a huge reach. The majority of Van Aire’s products are distributed across North America, but they also ship weekly to Finland, Germany, China and South America and have gotten the occasional order from places such as Madagascar.

“Possibilities are endless,” Lambert said. “Every industry, mining, paper, chemical, power, space, undersea, nuclear — we’re in it all. You can’t go too far in this country without seeing a VanAire product. That’s pretty cool.”

R. R. Branstrom can be reached at 906-786-2021 or rbranstrom@dailypress.net.