The Schaefer Group

furnaces in 3D, and have the ability to change them into VR, so a customer can actually come in here, put the headset on, and walk through his cell with our furnace in it, to make sure everything clears. We recently signed an agreement with our marketing company to develop a training VR on how to clean furnaces and troubleshoot. We’ll do it in segments, starting with cleaning, then move on to combustion and operation. So, instead of having manuals, we can actually send a VR training component to the customer and they can walk their employees through that with virtual reality. Marketing Options out of Dayton is doing that for us; they are phenomenal. The owner, Barb Castellano, markets for a lot of different suppliers in the foundry industry, and really understands our business. She increased our revenue stream considerably, did our rebranding, does all our VR work, our advertising, newsletters, and we’ve seen some great results because of it.” The longevity of the company speaks to the fact that it’s well managed. The Schaefer Group has built some of the largest systems in the world for die casters and foundries and that experience carries on down to the small mom-and-pop foundry that just wants a little crucible furnace. White emphasizes, “It’s our people who truly make the company. We have quite a few long-time employees. People don’t stay around long unless they’re happy and appreciated – not just from a revenue standpoint – but for the work they do. That speaks volumes about The Schaefer Group. We have people retiring after 30 or 40 years with us. When you look for a company that you have to rely on for production, you want one that’s stable, that’s been around awhile, that has the experience – and that’s what makes us successful. Our customers “trust us.” PREFERRED VENDOR n Nutec www.nutec.com Nutec is a leading manufacturer of high-temperature insulating products with production facilities in the US, Mexico, Spain and Brazil. Key industries served include metals, ceramics, glass, hydrocarbon processing, power generation, and many others. Products include needled blankets, modules, boards, papers, vacuum-formed shapes, mixes, coatings and cements. Distributors located throughout North America.