ACRAtech, Inc. Client Highlight

www.ACRAtech.net  

ACRAtech, Inc. 

2502 Supply St
Pomona, CA 91767

Scott Dordick is the CEO of Acratech, inc., which designs and manufactures photographic tripods and equipment. Scott became a client of the University of La Verne SBDC and Malcolm Geffen for help with automating and managing their accounting systems for the business. 

The photography industry was in decline due to the improvement in cellphone picture quality. Cameras had been getting incrementally better years before but had gotten to the point where consumers were upgrading their cameras less often. "We were looking at our sales numbers over the years and they were just declining. We would go to the trades shows and it was doom and gloom...The writing was one the wall that we needed to do something," explained Scott. 

Scott continued to work with Malcolm to help with declining sales and increasing production costs. Malcolm advised to established strategic alliances with major competitors and Acratech has something to offer to make a partnership appealing. "When you look at our products compared to our competitors or anybody else in the industry. They look physically different, they just have features that I've patented that no one else has. So we have a lot going for our products that other companies would be interested in," Scott said. 

The 2020 pandemic complicated issues when the largest company in the industry withdrew from talks with Acratech. Another large global manufacturer that Acratech was in talks with was interested in partnering but pressured Scott to move to manufacture overseas. "Well, that doesn't really work with my values. I'm really committed to keeping people working here. Everyone here is like family. We've had people who have been with us for 20 years and I can't just say 'we have farmed out your work to china,' I can't do that," Scott explained.  

That led to an interesting development. Because Acratech was deemed a non-essential business, all the employees were ordered to stay home and ordered slowed or stopped. Scott was inspired to create a new product that solved the problem of portable sanitizer dispensers. "It seems like every time I tried to use a pump at a store it doesn't work. The batteries are out or it's out of sanitizer because the container is small," Scott said. The dispenser design allowed for a larger holding tank that could be refilled with lower-cost bulk refills and did not require batteries or additional accessories.  

In 2021, Acratech, inc. steadily grew back to pre-pandemic levels. In 2022, Acratech has increased the sales of their primary photographic equipment and introduced their new product: Sani-Pedal. 

"During the pandemic, people had time to explore their hobbies and photography turned out to be hobby people wanted to do. We got very busy because the decline in the photography industry reversed." 

Acratech was able to secure Paycheck Protection funding through the SBA to pay employees due to "stay at home" orders. Scott was able to add an additional employee to add productivity. Acratech also received additional funding which a portion of that was used to purchase additional CNC equipment to increase productivity after growing orders and adding the sanitizer pump to their product line.