Applied Materials Finishing in Wadsworth is the second location of Applied Metals Technologies, Ltd. They make wheels for the automotive industry, do testing to determine how the metal stands up to situations, and testing to see how the product reacts in different environments. The company uses robots to help their employees do their jobs and has automated as many functions as possible so that the people do interesting and important work while the robots do anything repetitive or where they could prevent potential injuries. They are also ISO 9001-2015 certified, which is an international standard for how you manage quality in a plant. 

Lisa Virost was working for a company in finance and fund raising. Her husband Lou was in manufacturing. Some new rules came down for the products Lou’s company was making and the team decided they could handle it on their own. They launched Applied Metals Technologies, Ltd. and started growing. In 2010 they found a company in Wadsworth that did similar work that was going out of business. They purchased it and Applied Materials Finishing was born. Today, they are working on adding a third location that will supply the other two with the materials they need to do their work. Currently that work is done in China and Mexico and Lisa and Lou want to bring it back to the United States. 

We are growing rapidly and we need people who want to be part of a team and want a place they can grow to come on board. We want to promote from within so we need people who are looking for a long term company. 

Right now about 10% of our business is in Canada, DuBai, and Europe. All the rest is in the United States. Our materials come from Mexico and Canada but we are working to change that and do it all in the United States and in Northeast Ohio.

Everything we do is environmentally friendly. Some companies coat their products with hazzardous chemicals but we only use water-based paints or electro-static paint. It is very important to us that these chemicals don’t cause our workers health issues and nothing bad gets into the atmosphere. 

We have been fortunate that the Governor and state representatives have toured our plants. Having elected officials see what we are doing helps them understand things are different in manufacturing today and we are clean, safe, and making great products right here in Ohio. 

We put up job postings and then we work closely with our high schools to recruit people just starting their careers. If we can help them understand the world of work, we feel we’ll get a great worker and they will get started on the right foot. 

Why do employees like to work here?

Our team feels heard. They interact with all levels of management on a regular basis and know we are here to stay. We’ve been in business for 24 years and our average time an employee has worked here is 17 – 18 years so they want to stay.