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.
With keen eyes and vast resources, we constantly think ahead to be better and go farther for long-term success.
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.
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!”
In February 2019, I took a week of vacation for the birth of my son, Carter. He wasn’t breathing well and was later diagnosed with RSV. We then had to take him to the ER, where he was taken to Rochester by ambulance where he stayed for a week. He spent four days in the pediatric ICU, then another day of recovery in their normal pediatric unit. The airways to his right lung were completely closed from RSV and pneumonia, forcing him to be hooked up to a breathing machine. At this point, I was running out of vacation time, and I didn’t know what to do.
After talking with my supervisors, they told me not to worry about work and take the time I needed to be with my family. The team really rallied together and took over my responsibilities in the receiving department so I could focus on my family during this difficult time. They also got us a really nice gift (pictured). We truly are one family, and I’m glad GFS truly values this at its core.
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
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.”
In 2014, I was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma cancer, which had spread from my back to the lymph nodes of my arm. It required me to undergo chemotherapy treatment for one year, which isn’t always the easiest task when working a full-time job. I continued to work at GFS throughout the treatment, and GFS supported me every step of the way.
It wasn’t until after I was done with chemo that my surgeon made me realize how much the community within our company had helped me survive. He smiled and said to me, ‘Do you realize that you have done what most people can’t do? Complete treatment.’ Then one of the nurses told me it takes two things to get through treatment — a positive attitude and a strong support mechanism. I never looked at it like that. My family, friends and the support system that GFS provided me really helped me through.
I communicated with some of the people on the We Care Committee, and there were a handful of people who I didn’t work with day in and day out who would check on me often. Even Larry Will, our COO, would come and plow my driveways in the winter. Given a bad situation, the number of people who came out and showed themselves was an awesome feeling.
Not everyone has as strong of a support system like I did. When you stop and look, the network of support that GFS offers is pretty impressive. What the people here have done to support me and the GFS core value of family is unbeatable.
I love this photo of us all coming together, and it shows the kickoff of our internal We Care committee, which puts on different programs and fundraising efforts to help employees in times of need due to illness or natural disasters.
Growing up, I was always the kid in the neighborhood that others would come to when their bike broke. I am a carbon copy of my dad — not quite Tim the Tool Man, but if it’s broken, I can fix it.
Improvement is making things better, but it can also increase workload, at least temporarily. I see that here at GFS. Everything gets done, but someone has to do the work. A lot of that falls on our maintenance department. We recently completed all of the wiring for our intercom system. We installed 50 speakers on the manufacturing floor and in the storm shelter rooms. It’s a great improvement, but we had to put a lot of time and effort into it.
Before coming to GFS, I worked on a lot of different types of equipment, but never with steel manufacturing equipment, such as turrets and press brakes. Eight years ago, I never imagined I’d be playing an electrician at work, but it was a great learning experience. It was a whole new way of doing things, and it has helped at home for sure.
Discover the technical advancements that have heightened the importance of the prep area
