Hi friends!
Today, we went on a Tour to JDS Industries, Inc., and I loved it! JDS Industries, Inc. is based in Sioux Falls and is completely employee-owned (as of 2025). They specialize in supplying components for awards, promotional products and gifts, sign supplies, and many other personalized products.
Jericha, the Graphic Design manager, showed us around the Graphics Room, where we spoke with a few of the designers. JDS does all of their own graphic design, social media, advertising, photo-editing, and video-editing, which I thought was awesome!
During our tour, we were shown many types of personalized products and many ways they can be manipulated. Here are a few we learned about:
- Sand carving – This is a way to engrave glass products. It works by blasting sand at a product masked with tape or adhesive. This type of engraving is labor-intensive and more expensive, but it results in a better finish with higher contrast. ( Also, the warehouse in SF is the only warehouse that has the capacity to fabricate.)
- CO2 and UV laser engraving – Both methods actually fracture the glass. These methods are cheaper but do not give as nice a finish as sand carving.
- DTF (Direct to Film) – This consists of a sublimation process that uses a chemical reaction to blend the material and the design together. This process makes the products last much longer than screen printing.
- Rotary Diamond Drag – Although this is an old-school engraving method, it is still widely used to create ADA signs in Braille. This is done with a diamond pen that is hand placed for each letter (almost like a stamp).
We also toured the Trade Show room, where they set up displays for their trade shows. On average, JDS travels to about 30 shows a year. The coolest part of this was that Julie (the mastermind behind all of the displays) showed us how the walls can be broken down and put back together depending on what the show needs. She also explained how they pack all of the products into large shipping crates to send them to shows, and that they are extremely strategic about how they are packed, as they are often sent to another show immediately. Julie must be a whiz at Tetris!
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