Global Finishing Solutions® (GFS) is a vertical manufacturer, dedicated to developing high-quality paint booths and finishing environments for a wide variety of industries — including aerospace, automotive refinish and industrial businesses. GFS strives to meet the unique needs of every customer across the globe with pre-engineered and custom solutions for paint prep, application, curing and storage.
GFS’ Quality Management System is certified to ISO 9001:2015 by Smithers Quality Assessments, demonstrating GFS’ unwavering commitment to quality and dedication to delivering best-in-class products that are trusted by our customers.
Headquartered in Osseo, Wisconsin, GFS has an extensive history of providing the aerospace, automotive refinish and industrial finishing industries with exceptional equipment and services, helping businesses maximize productivity and achieve flawless finishes.
At GFS, we pride ourselves on being the leader in the finishing industry. Our continued success is made possible by our talented, hardworking employees. We aim to provide our employees with every opportunity to make an impact on the company. This is especially true for a company of our size and culture. Although a large, growing business — with more than 300 employees — our heart is rooted in small-town, homegrown values. To continue growing our business, we welcome you to join the GFS family.
We are focused on our family of exceptional employees. With a people-first approach and limitless opportunities, our people have every chance to flourish.
Never forgetting that business decisions impact people's lives, we infuse fairness and professionalism into all that we do.
Side by side, striving for shared goals, we align with people who share our core values and exceed our expertise.
We abide by unwavering standards of ethics and walk-the-talk principals. Our corporate culture is so steeped in character, it holds up even when the lights are off.
With keen eyes and vast resources, we constantly think ahead to be better and go farther for long-term success.
Global Finishing Solutions® (GFS) is proud to be represented by the finest distribution network in the paint booth and finishing equipment industry. Our experienced, dedicated distributors span throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and around the world. This expansive distribution network allows us the ability to provide consulting, training, installation, service, maintenance and parts and filters support on a local level to all of our customers.
GFS is a family-owned and operated company, focused on our family of exceptional employees. This “people first” approach has always led our success. With this foundation and limitless opportunities, our people have every chance to flourish.
Our commitment to “people first” works from the inside out. Never forgetting that business decisions impact people’s lives, we infuse fairness and professionalism into all that we do. The dignity and courtesy we extend to our family of employees carries on to our customers, business associates and vendors.
Side by side, striving for shared goals — we believe that’s how the best work gets done, and that’s why we treat business relationships as true partnerships. We align with people who share our core values and exceed our expertise. Working together, we all succeed.
We’ve built a corporate culture so steeped in character, it holds up even when the lights are off. In our core, we abide by unwavering standards of ethics and walk-the-talk principles. This is more than corporate speak; our integrity — who we are when the lights are off — is everything.
We are constantly planning, innovating and improving. We invest and reinvest to ensure the health and longevity of our company. With keen eyes and vast resources, we constantly think ahead to be better and go farther for long-term success.
I started working on the paint line at DeVilbiss while I went to school. When they merged with Blowtherm, I was hired as an engineer. Since the Team Blowtherm merger with JBI that created Global Finishing Solutions, I am now the primary mechanical engineer for our refinish product line. I work from our Barrie office in Ontario, so I communicate daily with our design, engineering and refinish sales departments. Communication is key, and the other big factor is trust. Although there have been many changes and mergers through the years, what has kept me with GFS is that it is a company that practices what it preaches in terms of their core values. Leadership means what they say, and I have seen them be flexible with people’s hours. They’re there for people when they’re sick or have children who are sick; that’s the big difference.
You can go just about anywhere to find a job that is mentally stimulating, but the other side of that is knowing the company will be there for you when you need it.
A big part of accounting is ensuring the integrity of our processes and systems. Making sure we’re compliant with accounting principles and covering our customers, all while seeing the big picture for the company. I’m always open and honest, and I try to be professional about it. It’s not always the answer you want to hear, but I’m always honest.
Another part is giving credit where credit is due. I play a role, but it is our team as a whole that does amazing work. When you make a mistake, you own it and put steps in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We hold each other accountable and follow through on commitments.
Before Terry Rue and Al Swett joined GFS in 1990 and 2003, they served as volunteers for the Osseo Rural Fire Department. In a rural community like Osseo, Wisconsin, individuals who are sent to an emergency scene are not paid for their time. The local fire department consists of volunteers with full-time jobs who sacrifice their time, safety and pay to help those in a crisis.
Fortunately, GFS employees do not have to decide between responding to an emergency call and having a career. From the manufacturing floor, where you can find Al and firefighter-in-training Cory Lange, to the office, where Terry works in design, all enjoy the positive role GFS plays in allowing them to balance their day job and volunteer firefighting efforts.
“There has never been a time we have been told we can’t leave or respond to an emergency call,” Terry said. “Many companies won’t let their employees leave until they have been paged multiple times by the fire department, but at GFS, we can take off as soon as we are needed.”
I started at JBI Spray Booths as a metal fabricator in 1999. When we were acquired by Curran Group, we started looking at advancements in the machines we were using. We purchased a turret machine, and I ran it before I started programming the turrets in the CNC programming department.
An opportunity arose for an industrial sales estimator, and I applied. I got the job in the industrial department and eventually became the Canadian sales manager. That job led me to selling automotive refinish truck paint booths in Canada as well, and I eventually became the truck sales manager in the refinish department. Today, I manage auto refinish national accounts, Canadian sales, East Coast distribution and major truck accounts, such as Penske.
GFS has given me a gift in the ability to grow. If I didn’t know something, the company would let me learn it and give me time to learn it. GFS gave me confidence and helped me grow as a person. Working here has made me a better person and made me believe in what I can do
I’ve been with GFS for 14 years. I started at GFS’ facility in Mexico and worked there for six years. When we got notified that the Mexico facility was shutting down, they offered jobs for both me and my husband at GFS’ headquarters in Osseo, Wisconsin. At that time, crime was starting to get really bad in Mexico, so my husband and I took the opportunity for our family and careers. We knew that our girls would grow up in a safe environment in Osseo. We also knew that GFS is a good company, and we liked the people. I knew most of the people in Osseo because I worked with them on a daily basis as the production scheduler for our automotive refinish business unit.
The job I took was in the industrial sales department. It was a change, learning to use our system in a different way and selling a different product line. They were really patient with me, and treated me with respect, explaining new things to me as many times as needed. The team is great, and I love working with them. My transition was really smooth, and my daughters adjusted really quickly because they were so young.
“You don’t stay at a job for almost 30 years if you don’t like the people you work with — I love them like family!”
