Eileen Mozinski Schmidt FSIP celebrates five decades of operation
In five decades of operation, Flight Systems Industrial Products has perfected the ability to evolve and grow.
Starting in 1968 as an aircraft and strobe runway light designer and manufacturer, today the business serves a variety of industries globally. Flight Systems Industrial Products, also known as FSIP, provides electronic products for numerous markets and boasts a trained engineering and sales staff to offer assistance with new design applications, according to the company.
The business makes new and remanufactured electronic products used in electric and gas-powered vehicles, as well as providing manufacturing services for original equipment manufacturer products to “help limit the potential for product obsolescence,” the website says.
The original operation, with its focus on aerospace, contributed electronics to five of NASA’s Apollo launch vehicles and two Skylabs. In the following years, the business expanded into material handling markets. FSIP now works with industries including industrial trucks, golf carts, scrubber-sweeper, mining cars/locomotives, electric boats, go-karts and support equipment.
The 50th anniversary of the company is “a big deal for us,” said Pam Jones, director of sales and marketing for FSIP, who said the milestone offers an opportunity to appreciate how far the business has come. “The company started with just a handful of people,” said Jones, who said when FSIP changed ownership in 1999 and was renamed to include industrial products, it had $1.5 million in revenue. In the years since, that number has soared to over $20 million.
Today, FSIP employs 118 workers, both at its headquarters in Carlisle Penn., and in Addison, Ill. The second location is a relatively new addition to the FSIP fleet and follows the purchase of ARS Solutions, LLC in 2017. The purchase afforded the business the opportunity to have a site in the Chicago area, Jones said.
Of paramount importance to the FSIP operation is its longstanding relationships with its OEMs. Many of these include agreements with vehicle OEM’s, and the manufacture of the electronic parts, according to Jones. “We remanufacture over 9,000 different part numbers. We also manufacture over 2,000 parts and distribute about 1,000 new products,” she said, adding that design work is another important component of the business.
Jones stressed that when FSIP remanufactures a product, the team does a complete analysis and full rebuild, ensuring the product is upgraded to the latest standards. FSIP puts extra emphasis on customer service and staffs a full sales, marketing and customer service team, according to Jones.
“Quality products are important to us, and customer service. We highly stress that here,” she said. “No matter how small or large the customer is, they are extremely important to us.”
In 2010, FSIP acquired all assets of GE Motion Control, and electric vehicle control and parts are now exclusively manufactured in the Carlisle location. And in the last two years, the company has forged its way into battery maintenance and product lines.
The majority of the operation’s customers are in the U.S. but Jones said FSIP also does a lot of international business with its distributors and dealer network.
As FSIP looks to the coming years of operation, Jones said the company will continue to maintain and develop relationships with OEMs. “It’s important for us to keep growing relationships as technology changes so we can change along with it,” she said. Along those lines, this year FSIP released an e-commerce store at shop.fsip.biz, which will allow customers to order online, and have access to their accounts to check the status of their orders and track shipment. The store is “a big advancement,” according to Jones.
The business will continue to mark its 50th year with staff and customers, Jones said, through hosting celebratory events and sharing promotional offerings.
Eileen Schmidt is a freelance writer and journalist based in the Greater Milwaukee area. She has written for print and online publications for the past 12 years. Email [email protected] or visit eileenmozinskischmidt.wordpress.com to contact Eileen.
