VIP DIRECTOR DISCUSSES OPERATION

VIP Industries was founded with a $14,000 budget and 16 workers.

Today, the not-for-profit company, which assembles, packages, and mails a number of products, serves five counties, has four operations and employs more than 360 workers.

"We have provided services for Procter & Gamble Paper Products, Auto Parts, Ralston Purina, Lee-Rowan and Kitty Litter," said Hilary F. Schmittzehe, executive director of VIP Industries.

Schmittzehe spoke at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee Friday.

"We've painted Coca-Cola cases, made pallets for Noranda Aluminum, packaged and mailed products throughout the world," said Schmittzehe.

VIP, acronym for very important people, provides employment to the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled.

"VIP fills three important needs for the disabled and the community," said Schmittzehe, who helped found the operation 30 years ago. He said it provides a paycheck for the disabled and allows them to perform a service for society; it gives workers the responsibility of going to work and performing a job; and it helps business by performing jobs that are labor intensive.

With facilities in four areas -- Cape Girardeau, Perryville, Marble Hill, and Fruitland -- VIP Industries provides services in five counties.

The employees, said Schmittzehe, work six to seven hours a day.

The corporate office, a production plant with 22,000 square feet used for custom packaging and assembly, is at Cape Girardeau. It employs 140 people.

The Fruitland plant, which has a 22,000-square-foot warehouse and 23,000-square-foot production area, employs 55 people; a 55,000-square-foot center at Perryville employs 50 people; and a 60,000-square-foot plant at Marble Hills employs more than 80 people.

The company has a fleet of over-the-road trucks -- seven tractors and 51 trailers. The transportation system consists of 43 vans and three large buses.

"We can provide up to another 600 employees if necessary," said Schmittzehe

Some of the workers have moved out of VIP into other jobs, said Schmittzehe.

VIP today offers special individual housing and transportation facilities. It is one of the largest sheltered workshop operations in Missouri. It was founded in October 1968.