BPS credits its location as part of its continued success

Kyle Vidovic, vice president of sales and marketing at Best Process Solutions, Inc., and the rest of the BPS team have had an interesting journey to get where they are today: a sales, engineering and manufacturing leader, specializing in recycling and bulk processing.

BPS at a Glance

Founded: 2012

Number Of Employees In Medina County: 30-35 Employees, All In Medina County.

Reason For Coming To Medina County: BPS Staff Came Back To The Building B.E.S.T. Was In Prior To Metso Purchasing It. Metso Vacated The Location And BPS Wanted To Operate There.

Geographic Distribution: North America

The management team at BPS has worked together for years, first as B.E.S.T, which was bought out by Metso in 2007. After Metso decided to leave the bulk processing and recycling business behind, the now-BPS team knew there was still a market to serve and formed the current company in 2012.

BPS develops and implements the most advanced technologies in the areas of Recycling and Bulk Materials Handling for its customers. The company has strong family values and is committed to providing the highest quality products and service.

Vidovic and Tim Conway recently spoke with Made in Medina County about their customers’ biggest challenges, finding solutions and how BPS creates an inviting work environment for their employees.

Note, answers are edited for brevity.

1) Do you think being in Medina County helps BPS make strong connections in the industries it serves?

Vidovic: Yes, absolutely. There’s a lot of industry in a 6-hour radius of Northeast Ohio. It puts us at an advantage because of our close proximity to a lot of people. Our location makes it easier for our customers because it’s cost efficient in terms of meetings, transportation costs, as well as supervision and installation. We drive out to see them and then come back, without a need for hotels or airfare fees.

Beyond consultations, it also works well for shipping purposes. All our machines are truckloads of equipment so shipping cost is a big factor for our customers. Having so much industry near us gives us a lot of potential. While we do ship outside the Midwest region, it is helpful to have so much business nearby.

Our company also benefits from being near steel because it keeps our transportation costs down, which translates into savings for the end user.

2) It’s no secret that it can be a struggle to find employees in the manufacturing sector. What kind of initiatives does BPS take to get quality workers in its facility?

Vidovic: We just hired four new welders. We look to bring on people who can work and think on their own. We train them, and then we want them to be able to produce quality equipment.

To achieve this, we get active in recruiting. We go to local welding schools, such as Lincoln Electric, and put our information up on their career board. We do informal training to let people get hands on with what we do.

We always have a supervisor there guiding them, but we start them with something basic and then they work their way up.

3) Does BPS do any employee-centric initiatives to keep morale up?

Vidovic: Yes, we do cookouts during the summer on Fridays, typically Memorial Day through Labor Day. And every Tuesday, year-round, is doughnut day.
We also do luncheons during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. We buy everyone a turkey for their own Thanksgiving dinners, too. One of our owners’ sister has a farm in Sandusky and she raises the turkeys for us.

Beyond food initiatives, we have benefits for our employees, including 401K for all employees with a 4% BPS contribution, profit sharing and we pay for employee medical.

4) What do you believe is your customers’ biggest challenge and how does BPS work to solve it?

Vidovic: I truly believe the biggest challenge our customers’ face is finding a company that wants to work with them. A lot of companies will go out and sell you on their product. There are not a lot of companies that aim to fill your specific need. That’s always been our goal. We don’t try to fit square pegs into round holes. We create customized solutions by partnering with our customers.

People need to be able to trust who they are conducting business with and that their product or service will work for them.

People need proof that you can do what they need. We are fortunate to have a large customer base nearby where we can take potential clients and show them our capabilities. We also provide 3D drawings of what equipment would look like in their plant, so they are comfortable with what we can provide.

For instance, a lot of what we supply right now is equipment that can reduce manpower. It can be a struggle for businesses to find a solution that is more efficient, but with less people. We listen to a company’s process, what it wants to change, etc. And then show them possible solutions.

In the recycling industry, a challenge is recovering smaller bits of metal. Our new RecoverMax solution significantly increases what they can retrieve. Whereas they used to pay someone to take the waste away, we are now offering a way to make money from what they would typically discard.

5) Can you elaborate more on the RecoverMax Fines Process and what it offers the recycling industry?

Conway: Of course. After four years researching this project, we are so excited this groundbreaking recycling technology is ready for production. Nine million tons of auto shredder residue (ASR) goes to landfills every year and with the revolutionary RecoverMax Fines Process, we can recover precious metals better than ever before. It focuses on separating metal pieces that are under ½ inch.

We have the capability to separate gold, copper or any metal in between. It’s truly an innovate project by removing glass and rock that have similar densities to precious metals. The RecoverMax Separator removes any piece of metal from glass and rock at a purity of more than 98%. We have started building plants for customers and are so excited about the developments we’ve made thus far.

6) Is there anything else going on at BPS you want to touch on?

Vidovic: That is always an interesting question for us because we are always innovating new solutions for our customers based on their individual need. That is why we love partnering with our clients. They always keep us on our toes to expand our capabilities and challenge us to get more inventive. We love arising to the occasion and making things happen for our customers.

To learn more about BPS, check out the company’s website.