Local manufacturers make good. (Made in Utah).

It seems like all business talk lately involves catch phrases like "recession" "slow recovery" and "sluggish economy." For the new year, UB decided to spotlight some success stories. These eight local companies haven't been immune to economic hard times, but they continue to provide innovative

products while seeking out new market niches. And for various reasons, they all make Utah their home. Perhaps Ken Martin, president of Martin Door Manufacturing, puts it best: "We love Utah. We love the scenery. We love the people. The quality of life here is among the best anywhere in the world." Read on for a sampling of Utah manufacturers making cool stuff--and making Utah proud.

Daw Technologies, Inc.

Daw Inc. began in the 1960s as a partition design company In the mid '80s, National Semiconductor approached the company with a project to create a cleaner environment in which to produce computer components. Daw stepped up to the challenge. The venture was so successful, Daw Technologies, Inc. eventually spun off as a separate organization, becoming one of the leading manufacturers of clean environments, and one of only two publicly held controlled environment companies in the world.

In recent years, Daw looked to clients to determine new market opportunities. For example, Daw created a technology to replace automatic sliding doors with "air curtain entrances" for clients such as Wal-Mart. Mound 65 percent of Daw's clients are in the U.S., with the remainder mostly in Europe. Daw employs 150 to 170 people in their Salt Lake City facility, depending on the number of projects in production. "The people here are the most tenacious people on the planet," says CEO James Goings. "The creativity of every member of this organization allows us to generate solutions to the problems we've faced."

Don Julio Foods

Don Julio's CEO, Craig Fisher, isn't new to the food business in Utah. He began his career with Clover Club Snack Food Company in 1974, running their Little Pancho Mexican food division, as well as taking over Regional Snack Food responsibilities in the 1980s. An entrepreneur at heart, Fisher started and owned several food businesses in the 1990s. Don Julio Foods' new state-of-the-art production facility opened this year in the Freeport Center in Clearfield. Wonder Bread now delivers fresh Don Julio tortillas daily to stores in the Intermountain area, and all major retailers in the region carry Don Julio brand tortilla chips, salsa, and flour and corn tortillas. "Our sales far exceed expectations," says Fisher.

Harman Music Group

Salt Lake City musician John Johnson and engineer David Difrancesco founded DOD Electronics in 1974, designing equipment needed to create guitar tones that allow musicians to achieve the desired sounds in their music. The partners established a reputation for producing reliable, high-performance equipment, adding to their product line as well as their impressive list of clients.

Harman International, the largest audio manufacturer in the U.S., acquired DOD in 1990, and Harman Music Group (HMG) was born. Now an industry leader, HMG is headquartered in Sandy with over 400 employees, and manufactures some of the best-known brands-- dbx, DigiTech, DOD and Johnson Amplification--used by musicians such as Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Matchbox 20, U2 and others. More than 2,200 distributors sell HMG's products in more than 90 countries.

Huish Detergents

Since its founding by Dan Huish in 1975, Huish Detergents has grown to become the nation's largest manufacturer of "private-label" dish and laundry detergents (products packaged to be sold as store brands, such as the Kirkland label Huish creates for Costco). Currently employing some 1,800 people--over 600 at their Salt Lake City headquarters, the remainder at manufacturing plants in Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas--Huish expects sales this year of $700 million.

The company's newest investment is the Houston facility, which produces a renewable, plant-based surfactant (the ingredient in cleansers that helps loosen dirt), freeing Huish from dependence on the petroleum-based surfactants most of the industry uses; making their products more biodegradable and environmentally friendly; and ultimately Huish believes, making their products even better.

Martin Door Manufacturing

Chairman David O. Martin began building one-piece overhead garage doors with his older brother in 1936 in southern California. Their business was temporarily derailed during World War II, but after his Navy service, David Martin relocated to Utah and revived the company.

Now with more than 170 employees, Martin Door produces around 500 garage doors per day about 10 percent of which are shipped to international distributors. Since 1998, all Martin Doors have incorporated their patented Finger Shield Door System, an innovation that sets the company apart in safety features. Martin Door is the first garage door manufacturer in the world to be certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) with the prestigious ISO 9000 quality standard. "As a whole, our industry still manufactures a very dangerous product," says David Martin. "Our door is the finest, safest garage door in the world."

Sport Court, Inc.

In 1974, Dan Kotler incorporated Sport Court, Inc. to produce a recreation court that could be installed in family backyards. Since then, Sport Court has grown to produce arid install courts and sports flooring worldwide for groups including professional basketball, volleyball, hockey and tennis teams, and in school and athletic center facilities. Its installations currently total more than 50,000 worldwide, and Sport Court is now headquartered out of a 90,000-square-foot production plant in Salt Lake City that manufactures flooring 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As of November, the company's 2002 revenues were $21.7 million nationally and $2.2 million internationally.

This year, for the first time, Sport Court will hold its national dealer convention in Salt Lake, Jan. 12-14 at the Grand America Hotel.

Ultradent Products, Inc.

As a young dentist, Dr. Dan Fischer was dissatisfied with many of the dental care products on the market, and he began a quest to develop products that would meet his exacting standards. Working in the basement of his home, Fischer developed his first successful creation, a hemostatic solution he called Astringedent, in 1979. Since then, his company Ultradent Products, Inc., has grown to hold dozens of patents and trademarks and now fills a 220,000-square-foot South Jordan facility where its 600-plus employees manufacture and package more than 500 materials, devices and instruments used by dentists in more than 70 countries. In addition, Ultradent sponsors continuing dental education seminars and conducts lectures around the world on state-of-the-art dentistry. In recent years, Ultradent has become best-known to the general public for its tooth-whitening product family Opalescence.

Wing Enterprises, Inc.

From its origins in Harold Wing's garage in the mid-1970s, Wing Enterprises in Springville has grown to do some $12 million annually in international sales of its uncommon ladders and snowshoes. The company's watchword seems to be "flexibility." The company's Powder Wings snowshoes compact to fit in a fanny pack, and Wing's Little Giant Ladder System boasts several remarkable features: both sides can safely be used at once; each side can be independently adjusted for use on uneven surfaces (including stairs); and a ladder can even be broken down and realigned to form two scaffolding trestles (sawhorses). And Wing even notes the advantages of its Springville location for providing it with room to expand to meet the needs of its customers.

More than anything, Wing Enterprises emphasizes people. A sign at the building's entrance cites their philosophy: "If you concentrate on building a business and not the man, you will not achieve. But if you concentrate on building the man, you achieve both."

Elizabeth Sweeten and Marcia Dibble are editors at Utah Business