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.
“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!”
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.”
Our commitment to “people first” works from the inside out. The dignity and courtesy we extend to our family of employees carries on to our customers, business associates and vendors. This is especially true for Mike Ausen, GFS’ Production Planning Supervisor.
Mike works with nearly every department of the company — through sales, design, engineering, purchasing, programming, manufacturing and shipping — to coordinate jobs and meet our customers’ expectations.
“Through all phone calls, meetings, spreadsheet updates, project scheduling and sometimes rescheduling, Mike maintains a positive, cheerful attitude. I appreciate his hard work!”
— Pam Graham, Sales Support Supervisor
“Mike always puts the GFS team first. He is a great leader who is very open and listens to everyone to make the best decision for the customer.”
— Jim Faragher, President
In an effort to minimize the increasing labor gap in manufacturing careers, GFS partnered with area high schools to begin a welding mentorship program. It didn’t take long for GFS welders Tim Urness and Corey Olson to jump on the opportunity to give back to the community and provide local high school students with an opportunity to learn from and work alongside industry professionals.
Both Tim and Corey began at GFS as Welder Is with little experience in the field. Today, both work as Welder IIIs and share many years of experience with GFS. Tim and Corey shared the skills and knowledge they have accumulated over the years with the next generation of welders — Tim at Osseo-Fairchild High School, and Corey at Alma-Center High School. They spent a semester alongside both schools’ welding students, giving them industry skills and experience beyond what the traditional classroom can provide.
“Seeing students open up and become willing to learn and adjust to new techniques I was teaching them was really neat,” said Corey. “I have enjoyed everything about my career in welding, and being able to pass my skills on to eager students was a rewarding experience.”
“My advice to students on their journey toward a career in welding is to go to college and get all the education you possibly can,” Tim said. “They should also research and explore all types of welding-related career opportunities before settling on one.”
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.
Integrity presents itself in a lot of ways. We could cut corners in a lot of areas to get things done faster and easier, but this often results in quality issues and negatively impacts the customer’s experience.
If we catch a flaw in the design, instead of installing it the wrong way, we take the time to talk to engineering to ensure our equipment is structurally sound and that we have all of the information we need. We make things right so that we deliver a good, quality product to our customers.
Another important aspect of integrity is following through on commitments to deadlines. The work we do — and where we do it — isn’t always easy. We’re sometimes working long hours in the cold, wind and rain. Everything we touch is wet and cold, and my team still shows up to work hard every day. It says a lot about the crew we have.
