Today we’d like to introduce you to Ronald and Toby Severtson.
Severtson Corp officially started 32 years ago in 1986. It stemmed from a project at William’s Air Force Base where military personnel contacted my father Ron Severtson to see if he had a paint that could be used to make their flight simulators more life-like and immersive to the pilots in training. After observing the problem and recognizing that no such paint was available on the market, Ron determined to see if he could create such a coating for the project. With the resources available at the ASU Library and the kitchen in his home, Ron started testing various ingredients to see if he could produce the desired result. After six months to a year of development, Ron had invented a coating which he felt might meet the need. Although he later identified that the coating would need to be adjusted to each project, it was a success. And shortly after completing the William’s Air Force flight simulator, Ron was asked to immediately make plans to do the same thing for a military contractor in Germany. Ron didn’t even have a passport, but his coating was so good, that the military told him they would take care of rushing his passport processing if he would be able to undertake the project.
Ron had no idea what this would become, after Germany, job after job kept coming in for military bases and government agencies around the globe. Ron racked up plenty of frequent flyer points traveling constantly across the globe coating simulators. This might sound luxurious enough, but highly underestimates the pressures and stresses that accompanied each and every job. Exact specifications had to be met for each project which required further refinement and adjustments to Ron’s coating to complete each project. This on-the-job education would later prove valuable as Ron became known as the industry expert in coatings.
About the same time, IMAX Corporation was planning to launch their new 3D movies but was having difficulty finding a screen that produced a high-quality experience and desired effect for customers. Through a series of coincidences that more closely resembled divine intervention, Ron’s name was given to IMAX as the person who could provide a solution to their needs. Literally within days, Ron was requested at IMAX headquarters which launched the next stage of Ron’s coating expertise, this time in the cinema industry. Ron would coat hundreds of IMAX screens and continue to coat simulators throughout the world.
The simulation experience, and now added IMAX 3D screen knowledge would put Ron in the perfect place at the perfect time — right when digital projectors and 3D would hit the movie theaters by storm, Ron would again be right in the middle of it. In 2009, when Avatar, the first of the 3D movies was released, it created an avalanche of theaters requesting highly reflective silver screens with 3D capabilities. That was an old game for Ron at this point, but a very new game for the legacy movie screen manufacturers. One of the leading manufacturers of the movie screen industry would exclaim, “where did your company come from? We’ve known all the competition and your company has just come out of thin air as a major provider of 3D screens!”
The movie theater industry was slightly different in that Ron could no longer provide only his coating but now had to also provide a screen. He set to work with his son Kirk Severtson and approximately eight months later they produced their first screen for customer Harkins, again right here in the Phoenix valley. Ron and Kirk were not quite sure what to expect with this first screen, but after viewing it with Harkins, it won them many more orders and new customer upon customer requesting a “Severtson Screen” — making Severtson Corp (aka Severtson Screens) a major player in the Cinema screen industry. Severtson Corp today provides screens across the globe in countries and continents that include and have included, Russia, China, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Australia, Asia.
One of the other claims to fame with Ron’s coating and screens expertise is that Severtson Screens can be folded for shipment — which provides significant savings and makes it much easier to get large screens into the actual movie theater auditoriums. This folding capability was unheard of for silver 3D screens in the industry before Ron and is a capability that is exclusive to Severtson Screens to this day. Because of this, Severtson Corp has been able to maintain all of its operations out of its Mesa, AZ facilities rather than opening up regional screen manufacturing sites as their competitors have had to do — creating a strategic advantage and low overhead business model for the company to operate under.
In parallel to the events of the movie theater industry, in the early 2000’s, Ron and son Kirk would also recognize the opportunity and rising demand for “movie theaters” in the home — known as “Home Theaters”. Their innovation and ingenuity would launch a line-up of the fixed frame and electric screens which they are also well known for in the industry today. Severtson Screens provides tens of thousands of screens annually throughout the US and Canada, but also to various customers across the globe and with very high profile and famous customers.
Today Severtson Screens continues to be known as innovators in the projection screen industry providing solutions from the largest Cinema Screens down to the Home Theater and everything in between including but not limited to, museums, restaurants, educational institutions, houses of worship which include LDS temples, etc..
Severtson Screens has also most recently acquired a new facility in San Tan Valley which it plans to expand its production starting in late 2018.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It was not and has not been a smooth road ever. As previously mentioned, each and every job had its challenges and difficulties to meet the required specifications. Ron would endure tremendous stress which at times would result in days without sleep and often drop him to his knees, praying for the solution, which later proved to be the learning and experience needed to provide 3D coatings needed in the cinema industry.
And there were financial struggles as well. At age 65, Ron would take the risk of starting the new Cinema screen business by exhausting his retirement and borrowed an additional significant sum. But he believed it would pay off and that it has…
Do you feel like our city is a good place for businesses like yours? If someone was just starting out, would you recommend them starting out here? If not, what can our city do to improve?
Government, in general, seems to be making it more and more difficult for companies to operate. The process and amount of time it has taken to obtain a new building, re-zoning and site planning has been tremendous and we have lost valuable time, money, and opportunity. And now the new laws and rulings requiring out-of-state taxation for online sales impacting small businesses appear at first glance to be a behemoth, which hopefully does not collapse the “little guys”. It’s hard to know where the little guy can find out about all the various multitude of requirements to conduct business?? We do not claim to have the answers, but we have experienced the symptoms of a burdensome system. If we want to continue fostering innovation in our cities, counties, and states, we need to make things simpler and faster — removing all the red tape that inhibits entrepreneurs.
That said, the people of the City of Mesa and Pinal County have been very good to work through the time delays and tedious processes previously mentioned.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Severtson Corp – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Most of Severtson Corp.’s specialization has already been described in the previous question, but what we are known for and most proud of is our reputation as innovators with coatings and screens. We are sought out often when jobs are too complex for many companies to take on. Ron has the only water-based movie screen coating in the industry that has elastic capabilities that allow it to be folded. This creates a solution that no other projection screen manufacturer has at this time. Severtson Screens is also known for their high-quality products which have always been one of their company values.
But on a separate note, another pride of the company is its employees. Ron has built Severtson Corp. with the idea of helping people succeed. He committed to himself that if the company ever took off, rather than just seeking riches, his objective would be to strengthen people and the community by offering job opportunities. Many of the employees that Ron has hired over the years may not have been the “right person” at that moment for the job, but through the confidence, Ron placed on them, they have become the “right person” for the job. Over the years, Ron has helped — and Severtson Corp. continues to help — many individuals recover from a hard blow and get back on their feet… many have moved on to bigger and better positions for themselves and others have remained with the company helping Severtson Screens become what it is today.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
As mentioned previously, Severtson Corp acquired a new site in San Tan Valley which it is in the process of preparing for its future operations. The plan is for the site to be ready in late 2018 for this expansion which will provide the company with much more warehouse space to conduct business and expand its products.
Contact Info:
- Address: 216 South Alma School Road
Suite 3 - Website: www.severtsonscreens.com
- Phone: 480-610-5155
- Email: info@severtsonscreens.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/severtsonscreens/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SevertsonScreens/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SevertsonScreen
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/severtson-corporation/
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