Haug Quality Equipment, a fresh California company transplanted to the Northern Nevada region, found the allure of the region one that couldn’t be passed up. Incentives including lower taxes, Nevada’s business friendly environment and the quality of life were just a few reasons it made sense for the company to move its entire operation to the Biggest Little City, last year.
Fast forward to the present and even with all the turmoil caused by COVID-19, business hasn’t looked better.
The company was financially already on an upward trajectory with above average sales before the pandemic unfolded. When the crisis finally took hold of the world, it was still able to not only persevere, but set company records.
“Back when this stared in March, we began to receive letters from customers like Hormel Foods and a number of other major corporations that stated we were an essential part of the food supply infrastructure so we kept operating,” said Brian Haug, CEO and Founder of Haug Quality Equipment. “Currently, we have clients who are actually expanding their operations and buying more equipment from us. We were on track to at least do the same amount of business we had the prior year. In the first quarter, before the major lockdowns, we were already having a record year with 30 percent higher sales.”
Haug added that even in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, his family-owned company is still on track to have an above average sale cycle for the year.
Haug Quality Equipment is the leading supplier of product packaging leak detectors, leak testers and quality assurance equipment for the food packaging industry. For 25 years, many fortune 500 companies companies have relied on Haug to provide reliable equipment for solving their needs when it comes to dependable leak detection equipment and leak testers.
The company got its start in the Bay Area and when it began to operate, its main goal initially was to sell automated packaging equipment. It was during this time its customers asked how to test the integrity of the seal on packaging from the machines they built.
That lead to the development of a leak detection/package seal test for the machinery it was building and started selling that test to its customers. Turns out, the testing equipment would become its signature product, which led them to focus on further developing the testing equipment and ceasing its production on the machinery.
From there on, the stars began to align for Haug and the company pivoted when the testing products they were making began to gain traction in the food packaging industry. The testing equipment is now used in almost every food company one can think of as well as many medical and pharmaceutical companies.
But getting this reputation and success didn’t happen immediately, it’s journey to build success was a slow steady voyage.
Haug had a gradual start for many reasons. It began while the internet was still in its infancy: Google and other search engines didn’t exist. At that time, it relied on trade shows and old school magazine ads and marketing. But what it does credit to boost the company’s profile over the years was old fashioned word of mouth.
“The customer base has grown because people we deal with move from company to company and every time they get to a new company and it doesn’t have our equipment, they usually recommend to buy our products,” Haug said. “So it’s fun to say it was an ‘overnight success,’ but it really took 20 years to get it going. But after that and with the help of modern day internet and Google and things like that, it’s been a lot easier for people to find us and buy our products.”
Making it easier to find its testing equipment has come at the right time for Haug. Currently, there are plans for expanding its product offerings that utilize new technology and will open up new markets.
It has electronic control system tests that can simulate altitude like an airplane flight or trucking loads going over mountains to make sure packages don’t explode in transit. The tests allows clients to see if their seal on packages will hold while in transit to ensure they arrive at its destination intact and safely.
Additionally, the company plans to unveil even more testing equipment moving forward.
“We do have a new device that is patent pending that is a special electronic control system designed to consistently detect leaks in packages,” Haug explained. “The test can be utilized for various product sizes and different locations and altitudes. It’s mainly to give a consistency to companies who have more than one facility they are packaging at and those could be at different altitudes. We are just waiting for the patent to be granted.”
The big reveal the company planned of its new testing product at the Pack Expo Show was scrapped because of shutdowns from the Corona virus and now it plans to unveil the product online.
Nevertheless, the future outlook for the company remains positive and though the business may not be a large or fast expanding company, Haug foresees that he could be adding a few employees to his workforce in the near future.
