Craftsmen Industries

Craftsmen Industries is a builder of mobile marketing and outdoor exhibits for the experiential marketing industry. For over 26 years, Craftsmen has built custom vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Craftsmen is known for building the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. The company designs and builds a wide array of vehicle types from small custom vehicles to uniquely shaped vehicles to sophisticated double expandable exhibit trailers. Craftsmen also builds unique task vehicles, including mobile kitchens, command centers and the world’s largest mobile LED screen. Craftsmen has built vehicles for brands including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Adidas, Burger King, Charmin, Crown Royal, Lowe's, McDonald’s, Gatorade, Sprint, The History Channel, Toyota, Xbox, US Cellular and Pringles.

Located outside of St. Louis, Missouri, Craftsmen Industries’ facility covers 129,000 square feet (12,000 m²) of manufacturing and office space. As a 3M Scotchprint Authorized Manufacturer, Craftsmen also specializes in vehicle graphics for fleet rebranding projects.

History

In 1977, Joe Helmsing and his brother Bob Helmsing purchased Lawrence Canvas, a company with five employees that has steadily grown over the years. Three years later the brothers purchased Foremost Manufacturing. Sales and the number of employees both doubled within one year. A SBA 503 backed loan was crucial to accomplish the next purchase, the repair division of Southwest Truck Body Company. When deregulation in the trucking industry took place, like the rest of the industry, the repair division fell on hard times. As a result, one of the first decisions was to change the name to Craftsmen Industries, and remove the mention of repair or trailers in the name. Craftsmen grew so rapidly in the early months that the brothers sold Foremost to concentrate on the new business. In the late 1980s, the brothers separated the businesses and Joe Helmsing took ownership of Craftsmen Industries.

From the beginning Craftsmen customized vehicles. In the early 1990’s companies were calling on Craftsmen Industries to build and customize their vehicles. The company became one of the early experts in what was at the time an unknown world of mobile marketing. Today mobile marketing is a nationally recognized growth segment of the advertising industry. Expansion became necessary and with the help of a SBA 504 loan in 1993 the company moved into larger facilities in St. Charles, Missouri. In January 2000, the company moved to a new facility in St. Charles.

In 1996, after outsourcing large-format digital graphics for several years, the company invested in digital equipment. By 2000, a 3D fiberglass department was added to service the needs of the company’s growing mobile marketing clients. In 2001, Craftsmen added a 16-foot-wide (4.9 m) printer to service the increased need for vehicle graphic applications.

In 1994, the company employed 50 people, by 1999, 120 people worked at Craftsmen and by 2005, the employee count reached over 200.

Awards

In 2003, Joe Helmsing was named the SBA's Small Businessperson of the Year for the state of Missouri.

In the fall of 2004, Joe Helmsing and Craftsmen Industries were recognized as the manufacturer of the year in the tri-counties.

Over the past five years, Craftsmen Industries has won more EXAwards than all of its competitors combined. The EXAwards is the premier industry showcase for the leading innovators in the international experiential marketing industry. The EXAwards honor the individuals, teams, and programs that set new standards and provide a fantastic opportunity to honor the hard work, imagination, and results of experiential marketing peers.

The competition is judged entirely by brand-side marketers and is open to agencies, suppliers, marketers and manufacturers involved in the event, sponsorship, mobile, hospitality, production, nightlife, retail, trade shows, and field-marketing arenas.

Corporate Leadership

• Joe Helmsing, Chairman & CEO
• Alberto Shaio, President
• Jeannette Mueller, CFO
• Mike McLaughlin, Executive Vice President
• John Salozzo, Director of Marketing

External links

• Craftsmen Corporate Site