RMA Electronics Inc., a global distributor of machine vision products, was estabished in 1986 by Ron Massa Sr. Now 40 years later, Ron Sr. has just retired, and his son, Ron Jr.—who has worked for RMA for 30 years, the last 15 as president—has stepped into the role of CEO and is ushering the next generation of Massas serving machine vision sectors the likes of industrial automation, robotics, traffic/ITS, R&D, military and defense, and more.
Father and son sat down with Vision Systems Design to talk about the past, present and future of RMA. Ron Sr. opened up about how his background in electrical engineering, business, and early work in high‑tech sales set the foundation for his leap into the machine vision and imaging industry. He takes us back to the early 1980s at Imaging Technology, where he helped build one of the first sales and distribution networks for cutting‑edge frame grabbers—just as the IBM PC revolution was taking off.
As the demand for PC‑based vision systems exploded, Ron Sr. found himself at the center of a rapidly growing market. But with growth came challenges—quality issues, shifting customer needs, and internal disagreements about product direction.
In this first of three videos, Ron Sr. opens up about it all.
