Happy 30th anniversary to us! Zormot International turns 30 this year, and, as a way of celebrating, we wanted to highlight some of the history of our company as well as offer our customers a great deal on shrinkwrap supplies.
How Did Zormot International Begin?
You may have wondered about the Zormot name because it’s a bit unique. Tom and Roz Kerkstra began the company in 1992, and they named it after themselves – backwards! “Zor” for Roz and “mot” for Tom. Both Tom and Roz were natural salespeople, and after a health scare and surgery in 1991, Tom decided to quit his job in the shipping industry and go into business for himself. Life is too short not to take risks, he believed, and he had seen the benefits of shrinkwrap as a protective covering demonstrated. It was clearly superior to tarping. He believed the market was there for commercial sales, and he persuaded his wife to join him.
The Kerstras began their business in their home, storing the shrinkwrap supplies in their garage. Tom made their first sale in 1992. By the next year, Tom was selling shrink wrap full time, and Roz joined him in 1994, assisting with both sales and accounting.They specialized in domestic and export packaging for machinery and built relationships with local businesses like APV Baker, Inc. which made industrial ovens and needed to ship them to their customers without sustaining damage on the journey. For some local customers, they provided both the products and the shrink-wrapping service.
Zormot trained companies on the shrink-wrapping process and demonstrated that with a small investment in equipment and shrink wrap, they could bring export packaging in house and eliminate extra costs paid to an outside packaging company. Once the products were wrapped, they could be picked up and loaded onto a truck for either warehousing or shipping.
Zormot has been based in Jenison, Michigan since the beginning, and it is still going strong. We continue to offer training and other resources to our customers, and we believe in the usefulness of our products. Machinery still has to travel over long distances for delivery, and it still must be protected during shipping. Many other products need to be kept safe from damage during storage.
Sadly, Tom Kerkstra died in 2011, and Roz has retired from the business, but their grandson Jeremy Rumble bought the company in 2020, and he has the same commitment to providing high quality products and excellent customer service as his grandparents did.
To celebrate Zormot’s 30th anniversary in business, we are offering 10% off strapping supplies and a free cutter with every order of film. If you order more than $500 worth of product, we are also including a free roll of tape. So call now to order. We are so grateful for our long-term customers who have been with us since 1992, as well as our new customers who are just discovering what Zormot International has to offer.