Universal Analyzers doubles space to meet growth

Don Peterson doesn't lose much sleep worrying about Universal Analyzers Inc.

The company, after all, is growing at a 32 percent annual clip, and most of its staff of 70 just moved into a 24,000-square-foot office and manufacturing building in Carson City that more than doubles the company's previous space.

But Peterson, the president of the 18-year-old company, sometimes wonders whether Universal Analyzers might be able to grow even faster if it took debt or outside investors rather than continuing to rely entirely on its own resources. So far, however, the company's owners aren't ready to bring in outside money.

Universal Analyzers makes a key component in systems that continually measure emissions from industrial smokestacks or during industrial process applications.

"We connect the smokestack to someone's analyzer," says Peterson. "It's the hard part of the job."

The basic technology was developed by Ted Barden, a much-recognized pioneer in measuring the chemistry of gas and liquids since the mid-1960s. He's the chairman and primary shareholder of Universal Analyzers.

The engineering group at Universal Analyzers takes Barden's work a few steps further each year.

"As a company, we have an insatiable desire for constant improvement," says Peterson. "We're good at this. We've been doing it for 18 years."

Most of the company's clients are systems integrators big engineering companies, for instance that weave Universal Analyzers' equipment into full-blown pollution-control systems at factories and power

plants.

A growing number of customers, meanwhile, are buying directly from Universal Analyzers as they begin to replace and upgrade systems that were installed years ago.

The Carson City company doesn't chase business based on price but instead seeks to position itself as the best-designed system to meet clients' needs.

"We get cranky if you want to talk about price," Peterson says. "We know that if you are not the A, No. 1 best, you're going to sell by the pound."

Universal Analyzers has about a 40 percent share of its market in North America, and the company believes it ranks second among competitors worldwide.

Much of its recent growth, Peterson says, has come in rapidly industrializing Asian countries.

The company's facilities near the Carson City airport, which also house a sister company that specializes in water chemistry measurement, Barben Analyzer Technology LLC, provide plenty of space to grow for a

while.

The companies previously occupied a two-story, 10,000-square-foot building on Sutro Terrace in Carson City, and its machine shop continues to occupy 6,000 square feet nearby.

Universal Analyzer signed an eight-year lease on the building, previously leased by Fluke Corp. at 5200

Convair Drive. The property owner, DBB Holdings Inc. of Incline Village, was represented by Jack Brower of Sperry Van Ness in Carson City.

As the company recruits engineers and skilled manufacturing workers, Peterson pitches the outdoors lifestyle available in northern Nevada.

He emphasizes, too, the company's nimble decision-making.

How nimble? Try this: Universal Analyzers decided in March it needed more space. On July 1, barely more than 90 days later, its staff was unpacking boxes in the new office.