One of the leading photography accessory manufacturers calls Whitmore Lake home, and continues to grow in the small lake town just north of Ann Arbor.
VANGUARD USA has just hired two new people for its local U.S. headquarters, expanding its payroll to 21. It plans to hire a handful more people within the next year as it continues to revamp and upgrade its product portfolio.
"It appears to be nothing but growth on the horizon," says Jody Lamb, marketing manager for VANGUARD USA.
The company got its start 24 years ago when Anne Lee, a native of Taiwan, began making tripods and ball heads for cameras. One of her colleagues had ties to Ann Arbor and persuaded to open up her U.S. office in Dexter shortly after she started the firm. A few years later it moved to Whitmore Lake and expanded its portfolio to include more photography equipment, such as camera bags.
The company went international in the 1980s, expanding into the Japanese and European markets. It even started offering hunting/outdoors equipment in 1997. Today VANGUARD USA employs 3,000 worldwide.
The company recently overhauled its product line, causing it to focus more on advertising and getting the word out about its new products. That has prompted the recent expansion of the Whitmore Lake office.
"There has been a great need to focus on marketing and customer outreach," Lamb says.
Source: Jody Lamb, marketing manager for VANGUARD USA
Writer: Jon Zemke
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