| thumb| | |
| Company type | Subsidiary of Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1947 |
| Headquarters | Loveland, Colorado |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Mrs. Kathryn Hach-Darrow (Co-Founder) Mr. Jon Clark (President) Mr. Gary R. Dreher (Chief Financial Officer) |
| Products | Instrumentation |
| Website | hach.com |
Hach Company (pronounced "hawk") manufactures and distributes analytical instruments and reagents used to test the quality of water and other liquid solutions. Manufactured and distributed worldwide, Hach systems are designed to simplify analysis by offering sophisticated on-line instrumentation, accurate portable laboratory equipment, high-quality prepared reagents, complete easy-to-follow methods, and lifetime technical support.[1]
Hach is a wholly owned subsidiary of Danaher Corporation (DHR), a fortune 500 leader.[2]
Hach’s global headquarters in Loveland, Colorado, employs over 500 employees and houses research and development laboratories, instrument manufacturing operations, and the Hach Technical Training Center.[3]
Another 300 Hach employees work at Hach’s facility in Ames, Iowa, manufacturing and packaging all of Hach’s chemical reagents and test kits, and filling customer orders from the main warehouse. Advanced electronic information systems help Hach to pick, pack, and ship hundreds of orders throughout the world every day.[3]
History
edit1947-1968: Founding
Hach Company was founded in 1947, in Ames, Iowa, by an enterprising husband and wife team, Clifford and Kathryn Hach.[4] Clifford Hach was a chemist and an inventor—those two passions can be seen today in Hach Company. The couple experienced their first business success through the development of a simplified titration method for measuring hardness in drinking water. As the product line expanded to include more parameters and instruments, the company continued to “bring analytical chemistry out of the laboratory and put it into the workplace and in the hands of the general public.”[4] Initially Kathryn Hach began marketing to municipal drinking water plants through direct mail. She pioneered what evolved into a philosophy of providing exceptional customer service.
The company was originally a partnership. In 1968 it was reincorporated in Delaware as Hach Chemical Co., with Clifford Hach president and treasurer and Kathryn Hach as vice-president.[5] Later that year Hach went public, raising $1.7 million by the sale of a small minority of the shares. Most of the money was used to build and equip a new chemical-manufacturing plant in Ames.[5]
1970-1975: Expanding Boundaries
Hach, in 1970, was manufacturing and selling a line of instruments designed to determine specific water impurities. It was also manufacturing a manometric apparatus that measured the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of sewage and industrial wastes in lakes, rivers, and streams.[5]
Hach was also manufacturing and selling more than 100 different portable water test kits for laboratory and field use. These kits were employed in water and sewage treatment, water conditioning, cooling towers, wildlife conservation, and boiling water. They usually included specially formulated chemical reagents in the form of small powder packets. Test results were achieved by visual comparison of samples against color standards after adding the prescribed reagents, and directions enabled persons without technical backgrounds to conduct tests. The first of Clifford Hach's 10-item criteria for company products was, "Can be used by anyone who can read”[6]—a rule for product simplicity that has endured with the company.
1977-1995: Restructuring
The demand for testing products grew as legislation mandating water quality standards, such as the Clean Water Act of 1977, was introduced. Hach products became standard approved methods in the industry.
Hach also focused on converting complex analysis into simplified procedures that were reliable and verifiable. Today, these standard methods are compiled into Hach’s Water Analysis Handbook.
In 1977, Clifford Hach took the position of chairman and chief executive officer, and Kathryn Hach became president and chief operating officer the following year. In 1978, Hach moved its instrument division and its corporate headquarters to a site next to the airport in Loveland, Colorado. Hach Chemical Co. became Hach Company in 1980.[5]
In 1985, Clifford Hach was chairman; Kathryn Hach was vice-chairman; and Stelios Papadopoulos was president of the company, which had grown to 580 employees.[6]
With Clifford Hach's death in 1990, Kathryn Hach became chairman and chief executive officer, while the Hachs' son, Bruce, became president.[6]
Instruments continue to be manufactured in Loveland, Colorado, where Hach also had its corporate headquarters, research, development, and engineering operations, employee-training center, and plastic-component manufacturing operation. The chemical manufacturing operations, a chemical research laboratory, and the company warehouse and shipping department were still in Ames, Iowa.[3]
1998-Present: Recent Growth
In 1998, Hach greatly expanded its portable testing capabilities with the acquisition of Environmental Test Systems Inc., in Elkhart, Indiana (USA). ETS develops, manufactures and markets diagnostic test strips for both consumer and industrial applications. ETS operations continue to be based in Elkhart.[4]
In 1999, Hach became a wholly owned subsidiary of Danaher Corporation, which includes over 30 companies working in the process/environmental controls industries.[4]
Also in 1999, the company acquired a German manufacturer, Lange, and established additional product development and manufacturing in Dusseldorf.[4] Lange, founded by Dr. Bruno Lange, is the distribution and support center for Hach's customers in Europe and Mediterranean Africa.[4] Danaher acquired Lange, Hach, and numerous other brands, and a period of dramatic change occurred for each brand as lean production was introduced.
After 9/11 Hach’s expertise in water quality technology allowed it to assume a leadership position in the critical, emerging field of water distribution system security. In 2002 Hach formed a separate research and development division, Hach Homeland Security Technologies. The elite group had one goal: To ensure the safety and quality of the nation’s drinking water.[7]
Hach HST’s scientists and engineers set about developing innovative technology and breakthrough research for a comprehensive water distribution security system that could detect and alarm operators to contaminants and accidents in real time.[7]
The result of their efforts is the GuardianBlue™ Early Warning System, the first early warning system for drinking water designated and certified by the Department of Homeland Security.[7]
In 2007, Hach created TNTplus™, which are Test ‘N Tube vials that contain premeasured reagent, and allow sample reaction and reading in a closed container. The next year, ISO 21501 compliant particle counters were added to Hach’s long list of products.
In 2009, Hach broadened its Integrated Information Management product portfolio by purchasing OPS Systems[8] and the assets of WaterEye Corporation[9].
Family Brands
edit- ANATEL [1]
- Dr. Lange [2]
- Environmental Test Strips [3]
- Evita
- GLI [4]
- HIAC [5]
- Homeland Security Technologies [6]
- Hydrolab [7]
- IQ Scientific Instruments [8]
- Lachat Instruments [9]
- Marsh-McBirney [10]
- MET ONE [11]
- OPS Systems [12]
- ORBISPHERE [13]
- OTT Hydrometry [14]
- POLYMETRON [15]
- Radiometer Analytical [16]
- Sigma [17]
External Links
editReferences
edit- ^ Corporate Facts
- ^ CNNMoney.com Fortune 500, 2009
- ^ a b c Corporate About Us
- ^ a b c d e f Corporate History
- ^ a b c d Answers.com Company History
- ^ a b c FundingUniverse.com Company Histories
- ^ a b c About Homeland Security Technologies
- ^ Info: OPS Systems
- ^ WaterEye Corporation News Section, 2009