PS Industries calls Grand Forks, ND home and has done so since 1974. This family-owned company has expanded and grown from the needs of its customers to have three primary initiatives: high-quality industrial doors, safety/fall-protection products, and flood barriers. Mark Haaland, Sales and Marketing Director, took some time to showcase many of the projects PS Industries is working on all over the globe. The far-reaching company currently sells into more than fifty countries, and with NASA contracts, the sky is certainly not the limit.
PS Industries is unique – Haaland explains, “we have a 200,000 sq foot facility in Grand Forks, we have 115 to120 employees. The company has shared a profit-share of $ 4.2 million with employees since 2007, and about 99.9% of PS Industries products go outside the state.” Very little of what they manufacture is used in ND due to the type of products for large-scale flooding, industrial doors, and other uses, but they are well-utilized along the coasts and slowly making more of an impact inland. “Each of these lines,” Haaland says, “all came to fruition because of a customer request… Even our stocked lines all started as custom-made products to solve a specific need.” The key to the company is its agility and ability to find creative well-engineered solutions for specialized problems.
PS Industries has a strong reputation for products designed to mitigate water issues such as hurricanes and flooding. Floodproofing products can be passive or active processes that need deployment. Many of their current US projects are infrastructure upgrades in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which swept across the eastern seaboard in October 2012. PS Industries estimates they are covering more than forty-one thousand openings as a result of extreme weather. Also, an increasing global need for flood mitigation is predicted due to a growing amount of severe weather incidents. PS Industries does not see a slow down in their protective products anytime soon.
Differentiating pressure doors in coal plants is one example of ingenuity for PS Industries, creating a safer working environment. Hatches and airlock chambers are also on the list of specialized manufactured products. “Much of our international business is project-based and includes hatches to Brunei, doors to treatment facilities in Sri Lanka and Qatar, safety ladders in the UK, along with flooding products to Australia and Oman. We even have our products on a deep water oil platform,” Haaland says. While they export regularly, PS Industries does not have a dealer overseas. Instead, their focus on project-based customers has been quintessential to their success. With a good reputation, they also continue to build safety products for industrial settings. They have worked with mining groups in Chile, South Africa, and Peru on safety equipment.
Custom design work that have increased safety and design requirements has been well-received in the UK market. In addition, PS Industries looks to many European countries for a variety of future projects.
Like many exporters, shipping and supply chains were an issue throughout the global pandemic, and they continue to impact day-to-day operations. From not being able to source a specific pigment, to lengthy shipping delays, PS Industries has not been untouched. “The timing delays are frustrating,” explains Haaland, “everything is delayed, and when you are working on flood protection products, everybody wanted their products yesterday.” They had some larger clients get creative with deploying their own shipping networks, but many simply have to wait until the congestion eases.
When talking about exports, Haaland had a few pieces of advice:
- Know your shipping terms and regulations.
- Become familiar with trade associations like the NDTO and US Commercial Services.
- Make friends in the exporting business. They have great knowledge to share.
The manufacturing industry can be challenging, especially with the current labor market, but, Haaland says, that is why PS Industries is glad to be in ND, “the people that work here are good people, they work hard and care out the product they put out. They give extra.”
With the future on the horizon, PS Industries continues to generate its best ideas from their customers and pass that knowledge on to others, securing the safety of people and property. So much of what PS Industries produces goes unseen to the naked eye, but their impact is great because of what doesn’t happen. And for a company that is always looking for new ideas and the next niche market, the future is bright and vast.
Learn more about PS Industries at https://www.psindustries.com/