Vacutherm Inc.

Today, Vacutherm is dedicated to working closely with every customer to develop new processes that will increase profitability by increasing production throughout and increasing quality, making it possible for our customers to supply Just-in-Time products.

With the addition of the younger Jim to the business, with his extensive sales background, Vacutherm was planning for dramatic growth. Jim, Jr. first asked the VtSBDC to assist with designing multiple sales approaches that might allow the company to aggressively take advantage of their unique product opportunity and begin presenting their solution to prospects in quite a few countries.

Knowing that the sales cycle was lengthy because of expensive capital commitments that prospects previously made to other technologies, the father and son team also asked the VtSBDC to describe alternative funding methods that could help provide marketing and working capital funds until sales and new internal proceeds were realized. After extensive financial forecasting effort, with the assistance of the VtSBDC, they chose a combination of debt and equity investment to help bridge their operating needs.

Since then, Jim, Jr. has relied on the SBDC for numerous operational/ financial sensitivity analyses to help anticipate the impact of alternative future decisions. John Brennan of the VtSBDC has been an advisory sounding board on many company strategic and operational issues.

Sales have increased more than 2000% since Jim, Jr. joined the team and Vacutherm believes they’ll reach $10 million in annual sales, with a significant net profit, soon.

Quality lumber drying is critical for the manufacturing of furniture or other wood products. Until the late 1960’s, lumber was dried primarily by placing it in a kiln, where the relative humidity was controlled to prevent the wood from drying too quickly. This process is still in use today, but it has not improved in terms of the speed of drying. For today’s manufacturer, it is necessary to have large quantities of lumber on hand in order to meet production needs and customer orders. Just-in-time manufacturing has not been possible using traditional drying technologies. Vacutherm technology has shortened lumber drying times from months to days and even from days to hours.

Vacutherm has been the leader in vacuum lumber drying technology since 1980. Their vacuum kilns are designed to dry lumber and wood components that require the highest quality in color, flatness, and stability. The VacuPress vacuum dry kiln is easy to use for any operator and requires very little training. It is perfect for operations that dry anywhere from 10,000 board feet to 10 million board feet, or more, per year. Vacutherm’s customers depend on the VacuPress system to improve the value of their products and maintain a just-in-time supply to their customers or manufacturing process.

Jim Parker, Vice President for Sales, joined his Dad, Jim Sr., the developer of the Vacutherm technology, over a year ago in the business to help drive sales. Since then, their marketing reach and penetration has dramatically expanded. Sales have soared and positive cash flow has ensued. In many ways, they are poised to redefine this exciting industry.