Company 411

“We want to be the leading manufacturer of LED automated fixtures,” states Mark Ravenhill. “We want to maintain that goal and keep moving forward. We want to keep adapting the technology available and keep bringing products to the market that make those who light live events lives better.”

Their Ron StageMaster Overload Detection System is Designed to Guard Against Truss Collapse

Their load monitoring and overload prevention products might never get to shine in the spotlight, but they seem to be everywhere these days: from the Orlando Conventional Hall to the Sydney Opera house; in the inventory of PRG and Kish Rigging; in the shows of Cirque du Soleil and Disney.

Joe Gallagher’s name and reputation is so tied to live event staging that it seems like his own company started years ago. But while Gallagher Staging and Productions, Inc. is barely a year old, the Gallagher name is a 30-plus year institution.

Despite their obvious differences, shoot-from-the-hip Michael Wiener, owner of Aerial Rigging, Inc., and a thoughtful, slightly reserved Steven Shaw, head of Performance Rigging Systems, Inc., Aerial’s affiliate, seem to have made a pretty good match.

“Here’s a fun fact — we sell to over 60 countries, and for a company started right here in the Rocky Mountains, that’s kind of neat.”

So says Greg Gundrum, VP of sales and marketing for Checkers Industrial Safety Products, the company behind all those orange and black cable protection ramps seen at events large and small.

Before I came to work at CAT ES, I’d hear ‘CAT’ and think big yellow bulldozers,” says senior account manager Mitch Margolin. While CAT ES is owned by Caterpillar Inc., “the CAT equipment we bring to a project is specific for live events, not construction sites.”

Global Trend Productions CEO Isaac Campos is a modest man, but there’s no denying the progress that he and his team have been making. The LED video display specialist, established in 1997, has supported the Electric Daisy Carnival and Nocturnal festivals, featuring big-name DJs such as Kaskade, Tiësto and others. On the corporate side, they’ve been there for Lexus, Ferrari, Activision, Atari and Telemundo.

“We are busting at the seams,” says Doug Murray, who founded the Pottstown, PA-based Upstage Video in 2005.

To better serve its growing roster of clients, the company is expanding on three fronts. Along with the move from its current 8,000-square-foot home base to a 50,000 square foot building in the Philadelphia area later this year — “that should hold us for another year or two,” Murray laughs — the company recently expanded into a 10,000-square-foot facility in Boulder, CO, near Denver, and also acquired Los Angeles-based JumboScreen Co. (JSC) in April. Operations there will soon move from Thousand Oaks, CA to a 10,000-square-foot warehouse just 10 blocks from Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

In a crowded, competitive market, Reel Video Systems (RVS) has a real advantage: LED screens that roll up. Lighter, easier to use and with potential outdoor safety advantages as well — they and the company are getting noticed.

As Tomcat kicked off its 25th Anniversary celebration at LDI 2011, it was immediately clear that, while they were proud of their past, they had their collective eye trained squarely on the future. And actually, they could be celebrating a concurring anniversary: They are entering their fifth year as being part of the global giant the Vitec Group, and the people of Tomcat are building on their strength while looking to do bigger and better things, including expanding into new products.