Small Local Company has Large Global Reach

With just over a dozen employees and less 12,000 square feet tucked into an industrial park off Route 94, seems an unlikely candidate to be a globally-known facility with worldwide reach.

While its work may not be obvious, its scope certainly is.

“No matter where you look, in your home, in a restaurant, in an airport, anywhere you go, you will likely see an electrical or electronic device on which we have done some sort of testing to drive the efficiency and safety of that product,” General Manager Andrea Morse told an assemblage of employees, clients and business leaders Friday afternoon.

While most St. Charles residents have never heard of ELTEK, which specializes in testing electrical insulators and insulating systems, chances are good that this small local company has had an impact verifying the safety of at least some of the items they – and millions of others worldwide – use daily.

It’s a fact not lost on Morse’s audience which was there to celebrate ELTEK’s certification by the International Accreditation Service. Obtained after months of effort, it’s hoped the IAS seal of approval will help the company to further expand its already substantial presence deeper into foreign markets.

Serving clients from small startups to Fortune 100 behemoths, the little enterprise now has customers in nations from Brazil, Finland and Austria to Italy, Japan and India.

In fact, Morse said she knows of only two other laboratories in the world that do this kind of work and said ELTEK is now the only IAS-accredited provider in the specialty.

Though the client list is confidential, Morse said it includes many household names which ELTEK helps to submit relevant information to certifying authorities like Underwriters Laboratories, the organization that puts the respected UL mark on electrical equipment.

“There are many, many organizations around the world that do this kind of technical product certification throughout Europe and Asia,” said Morse, interviewed before her remarks. “Basically what this does is, almost overnight, further opens us up to those markets.”

Still, even with their global presence the domestic market has been good to ELTEK as well – especially of late. Morse said that a few years ago, most of the company’s client base was outside the United States. Today, however, more than 80 percent is American.

Corina Wenzara, the company’s laboratory supervisor, said that in the last year or two ELTEK’s domestic client list has “blossomed.”

“It’s amazing,” said Wenzara. “I can’t tell you in the last month or so since we’ve received the accreditation the amount of correspondence [we’ve gotten]. People have been contacting us saying, ‘Oh, we’ve been waiting for a company like you.’”

Morse said ELTEK is headed to its best year ever. While she wouldn’t give exact revenue figures, she said the organization is on a pace to double last year’s totals.

Those numbers make her optimistic, not just about the company’s future, but the domestic economy in general. If ELTEK is doing well, it means manufacturers are bullish on tomorrow.

“You have to consider the kind of customer we are working for,” Morse said. “Our customers make cars. They make laptops. They make durable goods. They are expecting that people are going to be buying a year from now.”

Founded in 1987, ELTEK has always been a St. Charles company but didn’t move to its present location until just over a decade ago. Now, despite a low profile in the community, it is well-known to clients worldwide.

Not that it was always easy. Ironically, it was the enterprise’s lack of competition that made it a tough sell.

“The early years were really extremely difficult because there was no other lab that does what we do,” said Ed Van Vooren, the company’s founder and president. “When you are the only example of what you are trying to explain, it’s pretty difficult.”

But those days are long gone and ELTEK is gaining more exposure. In 2009, it was even named St. Charles’ employer of the year.

Interviewed after delivering her remarks and presenting a city proclamation honoring ELTEK, Mayor Sally Faith said the company showed the value of entrepreneurship.

“It’s a perfect example of a small business starting out,” she noted. “As [Van Vooren] said, at the beginning he had zero money, a passion and an idea. Now he has grown to be a global company. It’s a wonderful incentive to individuals who think they have a good idea.”

Representative Vicki Schneider, a former colleague of Faith’s in the Missouri General Assembly, was also on hand. She presented a proclamation from the state.

“I’m proud of all businesses that locate in the State of Missouri,” said the 17th District Republican in an interview afterwards. “But whenever it goes global like that you feel good that, ‘Oh, it’s in my backyard.’”

Morse said that ELTEK may not be widely heard of in town but it likes its role as a small local company with big international reach.

“You can rest assured that our customers may have made the car that you drive in, built your refrigerator, your television, your smoke alarm, the ballast in your fluorescent fixtures, your laptop,” she said. “We’re this little gem in St. Charles that people just don’t know about.”