Woodworking has been in the Moran family for many generations. I grew up in a family of master wood carvers and furniture manufacturers. I would tell everyone that I grew up with “Saw Dust” flowing through my veins! My father was an engineer for McDonald Douglas; yet he also wanted to help his brothers continue with his passion and family tradition of wood working. That was his reason for starting Moran’s WoodCarving.

I was 6 years old when my father started the business in Los Angeles California. We produced furniture and components for major companies in the Carolinas and back East. I remember names like Broyhill, Thomasville, Bassett, American Drew and BernHardt Furniture. We spent our summers every day in the shop. My father started me off with sweeping the floors and picking up all the wood shavings. As the years past, I began to run all the machines at Moran’s WoodCarving; which also included several of the Multiple Spindle Carving Machines. Spending all of my summers and afternoons after school at Moran’s WoodCarving, I learned all aspects of Maintaining and rebuilding these machines also thanks to my father’s mechanical & engineering background.

When I turned 18 years old, I was recruited from Moran’s WoodCarving to become the youngest technician hired by Stiles Machinery. While at Stiles, I learned all about Pneumatics, Hydraulics and Electrical components. I learned firsthand about the automation systems and installations. As my work with Stiles continue, my passion moved towards Edgebanders. I wanted to do more and more with these machines and this is when another door opened for me and I was offered the position of Service Manager for Holz-Her Edgebanders. Officially becoming the first USA employee for Holz-Her Montreal, Canada.

I spent many years at Holz-Her helping to engineer, design and develop new lines of machines and features to help improve productivity and simplicity on these machines. As the years went on, my passion lead me to become the technical and sales Training manager which put me straight into sales. I was promoted to the position of Director of Sales for all of Latin America and broke sales records every year of the 9 years I held that position. I personally want to thank one of my mentors Mr. Kurt Waldthuasen, President of Holz-Her at that time. He believed in me and taught me how to be one of the best Managers in this industry.

My continued passion for Edgebanders then lead me to SCMI and BIESSE where I was instrumental in the development of machine compositions and designs. Holding positions as the North America Sales and Product Manager for SCM and Biesse. It was also during my years at Biesse and my dedication to help grow their Edgebanding program that I was honored with the nickname Ed “The Edge” Moran. 

Over the years since I have designed and developed Contour Edgebanding machines for other independent companies which have experienced tremendous success. 

My drive and passion to learn more about the upcoming automation “Robotics” lead me to leave the woodworking industry for two years and to go back to school and learn all about these amazing machines. While at the Robotics College in Appleton, Wisconsin, I received 5 degrees in Robotics. I was hired by KUKA Robotics as the Director for KUKA America’s and was involved in several large projects with Jeep, Ford and Mercedes Benz.

I wanted to bring all my experience and passion back to the Woodworking sector. That is when I made the decision to open up my own company and share my knowledge with everyone. I take pride in being an industry educator and having the ability to service and sell my machines.

All of my career experience has given me the opportunity and drive to develop my own line of Edgebanders called the VantEdge series. What truly gave me the push to do this was that I have been seeing our industry (other Edgebander manufacturers) build overly sophisticated machines and then go out and try to convince everyone that “this is what you must have to stay alive.” I have visited, and have seen, many companies that are purchasing machines that they do not fully understand nor utilize. These companies would be much better off with a simpler machine which perfectly matches their needs.

The VTM VantEdge Series Edgebanders developed and Engineered by Ed Moran, brings back “Simplicity & Strength” to Edgebanders; with the same features and quality levels of much more expensive machines.

I wanted my machines to be Simple and Strong enough for all employees to be able to understand and operate.

Edgebanders are my life! I have dedicated my 42 years in this industry to help everyone succeed. My goal is to assist all my customers reach their full potential and provide the best quality machines to increase their production.