The American Small Business Association honors local business HALTEC in Leetonia, Ohio

LETTONIA, Ohio (WKBN) – On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Small Business Association recognized HALTEC as a 2024 Great Lakes Regional Exporter of the Year.

The trophy presentation ceremony was held at the company's manufacturing facility in Leetonia. It was one of 68 nationally recognized companies.

Elected officials and community leaders were among the distinguished guests.

HALTEC manufactures and assembles tire valves and other equipment for companies in 50 countries around the world – everyone from Caterpillar and John Deere to the National Football League – and provides the equipment needed to ensure all footballs meet inflation requirements.

“Everyone knows the NFL needs a better way to inflate footballs, so through our partnership with Wilson, we have come up with a solution,” said Michael Adelman, Director of International Sales at HALTEC. “We manage the football from its manufacture at Wilson's manufacturing facility in Ohio to its use on the field during game day. This has been a really fun project for us.”

HALTEC operates in four locations: Leetonia, Salem, Florida and Ireland. The company, which started with five employees, now employs more than 250 people.

“I think we have a lot of great relationships with our customers and great relationships within our team at HALTEC that allow us to really dig into this and find the best solutions and work with each other,” Adelman said.

The need for large equipment tires has grown for years, owners say, as has the need to inflate them quickly.

“It took a lot of time,” Adelman said. “So our founder came up with a solution to create a larger valve that would allow you to inflate and deflate tires faster than before.”

Executives say the future will include high-tech software that allows customers to monitor their vehicles in the field to ensure equipment made here is doing its job and to help HALTEC stay ahead of its competitors.