LEETONIA, Ohio (WKBN) — On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Small Business Association recognized Haltec Corporation as the 2024 Great Lakes Region Exporter of the Year.
The trophy presentation ceremony took place at the company's manufacturing facility in Leetonia. It was one of 68 businesses nationally recognized.
Special guests included elected officials and community leaders.
HALTEC manufactures and assembles tire valves and other equipment for companies in 50 countries around the world, from Caterpillar and John Deere to the National Football League, ensuring every soccer ball meets inflation requirements. We provide equipment.
“We all know the NFL needs a better way to inflate footballs, so through our partnership with Wilson, we came up with a solution,” said HALTEC's International Sales Manager , said Michael Adelman. “We take care of the footballs from the time they are manufactured at our Wilson manufacturing facility in Ohio until they are used on the field during games. It was a really fun project for us.”
HALTEC operates from four locations in Leetonia, Salem, Florida and Ireland. The company started with five employees and now has more than 250 employees.
“We have a lot of great relationships with our customers, and I think we have great relationships within the team at Haltech as well. That allows us to dig deep into this problem, find the best solution, and help each other. We can work together,” Adelman said.
As the need for large equipment tires grew several years ago, so did the need to quickly inflate tires, the owners said.
“It took too long,” Adelman said. “So our founders came up with a solution: creating a larger valve that allows tires to be inflated and deflated faster than before.”
Executives say that in the future, high-tech software will allow customers to monitor vehicles in the field to ensure equipment manufactured here is functioning properly and help Haltech stay ahead of its competitors. He says he plans to introduce it.