Winds of Change: Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems

Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems has been based in Springfield since 1969, but the receptionist still sometimes receives calls from people asking if the company can fix or clean their home vacuum cleaners.

The problem is, Tuthill is not that kind of a vacuum company.

It sells vacuum boosters, systems and pumps – such as the kind the U.S. Air Force hooks up to chambers for space simulation – as well as positive displacement blowers. These blowers might be recognized as the types used on semitrucks to transfer sand, concrete, grain and other food products to construction sites and food/beverage manufacturers. Anheuser-Busch Co., for instance, uses Tuthill blowers to transfer yeast and barley to make beer.

The Springfield-based Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems is part of Tuthill Corp., based in Burr Ridge, Ill., near Chicago.

Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems experienced a record year in 2008 when the economy was still humming along,.

John Ermold, president of Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems, says 2008 activity was largely due to the sales of blowers for trucks. “The economy was still going along well, and construction was still strong,” says Ermold.

Sales dropped 35 percent in 2009 and that led to a staff reduction of 80 people in Springfield.

However, Tuthill management hopes to regain some of that ground this year.  

Century of vacuums
Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems traces its roots to several companies, beginning with Kinney Vacuum in 1907 in Canton Mass. In 1937, the blower side of the company was born in M-D Pneumatics in Racine, Wis.; the company moved to Springfield in 1969 and became part of Tuthill Corp. in 1988. In 2002, Kinney Vacuum moved to Springfield and, together with Tuthill Pneumatics Group, evolved into Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems.

Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems also has service centers in Canton, Mass., and El Monte, Calif., as well as a manufacturing facility in Buenos Aires.

Tuthill Corp. manufactures a variety of other products used in industrial applications and has roughly 3,000 employees on five continents. It also makes tractor-trailer suspensions in a Mount Vernon plant.

Ermold says the vacuum and blower business is split 60 percent in blower manufacturing and sales and about 40 percent in vacuum manufacturing and sales. Ermold says about 95 percent of the company’s products are made in Springfield and the remaining 5 percent of components are manufactured in Tuthill’s facility in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and shipped to Springfield.  

“We have engineers, sales and marketing, and manufacturing here in Springfield,” Ermold says. “The castings are assembled into vacuum pumps and blowers here and then tested, painted and shipped from Springfield.”

The company directly manufactures and sells about 85 percent of its products to customers in the U.S. and approximately 15 percent is sold to customers in China, Mexico, India and Europe.

Solar segment
Tuthill also manufactures a vacuum pump that is used on a system that makes solar wafers for solar energy systems.

“The solar and energy market in 2008 was also quite big,” says Angie Burlison, marketing and communication manager for Tuthill.

Ermold says the solar application has been part of the company’s vacuum manufacturing segment for many years, but with the push for alternative energy uses in the U.S. and globally, the solar application now accounts for about 15 percent of total company sales.

Approximately 5 percent of Tuthill’s Springfield sales are in blower systems for trucks for such companies as McConnell & Son Inc. The company also makes blowers that assist sewage treatment facilities in aerating the wastewater and blower products used by dairy farmers in the milking process.

However, the company is always investing in product development. “We didn’t cut product development last year. We think it’s a really important part of our future,” Burlison says.

The investment in research and development may be already paying off.  

Rick Monson, owner of Technical Industrial Sales in Webb City, has been supplying Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems with manufacturing tools for 14 years. He says sales to Tuthill accounts for about 30 percent of his annual business.

Monson says while his business with Tuthill definitely dropped in 2009, orders began to pick up again in December. “It began to get really busy again, and that helps us and everyone in the region,” says Monson.  

Ermold says some of the sales increase is due to a new vacuum product they aren’t ready to publicly announce, as well as new blower package products that already are being shipped. The company declined to disclose annual revenue figures, but Ermold expects those products to account for 4 percent of sales this year. Overall, Ernold hopes to increase 2010 sales by 26 percent, leaning heavily on the marketing team to generate leads and work at eight industry trade shows.

“It won’t quite get back to where we were in ’08 but is a heck of a lot better than where we were in ’09,” Ermold says.[[In-content Ad]]