Navigating success

Each weekday, more than 100 Vector Industries employees travel by bus and van from Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County to the Fairfax Avenue facility where they make and assemble a variety of products.

It’s a chance for folks with diverse disabilities to contribute. But Vector President Kent Iberg said during a 40th anniversary celebration Thursday that the real winner is the community.

“I’ve never been somewhere where people are so positive and so upbeat,’’ said Iberg, a former private industry executive. “They enjoy coming to work. They have so much reason to be mad at the world about the cards they have been dealt. But I’ve never seen some of them have a bad day.”

Vector employees serve about 600 customers, including area employers such as American Safety Razor in Verona.

Vector generates in excess of $1 million in business annually. And Iberg said the business has operated nearly three-and-a-half years without any lost time due to injury.

The services range from the shredding of papers for law firms and the local police to the packaging of products including meal kits and the manufacturing of stakes for surveying and construction.

Vector employees also engrave nameplates, trophies and other items.

Waynesboro City Councilwoman Lorie Smith, a Vector board member, said she sees “enthusiasm and people who are happy to have a job.”

Smith said the contributions of Vector help other area businesses maintain a more profitable bottom line during these tough economic times.

It all starts with a punctual work day. That means many of the employees leaving their homes shortly after 6 a.m. to board a bus or van to come to work.

A three-year Vector employee like Erica Johnson, of Stuarts Draft, said it’s empowering to work at Vector. “I’ve done about every job that is here,’’ she said.

Some of the employees recognized on Thursday had terms of service at Vector ranging from 20 to 40 years.

The nonprofit business opened in 1969 in the basement of the old Waynesboro Public Library. Today, Vector operates on two acres of facilities on Fairfax Avenue.

Iberg said Vector offers a place for people who might otherwise be idle.

“A parent told me the worst day,” Iberg said, “was when her son wakes up and can’t come to work.”