United Equipment Accessories, Inc.

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Based in Waverly, IA, United Equipment Accessories, Inc. (UEA) is a 120-person manufacturer of electro-hydraulic rotary mechanical components. The company makes slip rings, cable reels, shift controls, and hydraulic swivels for everything from wind turbines to automated factory machinery.

UEA is a second generation family-owned business with the third generation already actively assisting with the management of the company. UEA takes a serious approach to serving its customers, working to ensure the custom components it produces exceed the quality of its competitors’ products and meet the exact needs of its clientele. To achieve this mission, UEA conducts in-person visits to facilities, even those overseas, prior to designing custom parts like slip rings. While this hands-on approach may entail some up-front costs, UEA has found that the visits help their team design better components once back home in Iowa.

Though based in the heartland, UEA is in many ways tied to the global market. Several of the companies to which it supplies its components export final products to customers overseas. Because of this, the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank has proven vital to UEA—the company estimates that 30 to 40 percent of its revenue is based on projects that Ex-Im finances. According to Mark Hanawalt, President of UEA, “There is no question that our business would be dramatically impacted if Ex-Im is not reauthorized.”

If there is one thing Hanawalt wants Washington to know it is that the Ex-Im Bank is vital to business at all levels.  “It is critical to retain this very important program to remain internationally competitive,” Hanawalt says. He will deliver this message first-hand to members of Congress when he travels to Washington at the end of February.