TECHniques Incorporated has expanded a niche market into a business that customizes, sells, and distributes filtration products for industrial and commercial applications. But what makes the company distinctive is the way it customizes its services and delivery.
Owner Tony Fichter had worked in procurement and purchasing for Polaris for 15 years before he partnered with Chris Hamness. Hamness had been working for Marvin Windows and developed a “technique” or process to refurbish the brushes and rollers on Marvin’s glass-washing equipment and upgraded the filter system on their equipment. He left Marvin in 1987 to start TECHniques, a company that provided glass-washing services to a list of clients including Marvin.
In 2006, Fichter bought into the company, which also distributed filtration products for industrial and commercial applications. About 10 years ago, after TECHniques had grown and further diversified, Fichter and Hamness decided to buy each other out. Fichter kept the filtration part of the business and the TECHniques name.
He had realized early on that many of their competitors knew filtration but did not necessarily know manufacturing.
“They may have known a lot about filters for air conditioning systems,” Fichter says, “but when it came to a paint system, they didn’t really understand those applications.” Fichter combined his manufacturing expertise with his experience in procurement to help fulfill the filtration needs of his customers.
“We’re not manufacturers’ representatives,” he says. “We’re distributors. We carry product lines from 12 or 15 different manufacturers, so we’re able to cherry pick their product lines to get the best possible combination of products for a customer, as opposed to being a one-size-fits-all.”
TECHniques conducts site surveys to assess all filtration needs within an organization: what products are currently used, any issues or problems with the systems, and how often filters are replaced. Then they make recommendations for the best, most efficient products and put together a customized package for the consumer.
But the customization doesn’t end there. Based on that assessment, TECHniques puts the order together and labels each item to designate exactly where each piece goes, saving the customer valuable time and energy.
Branching out from manufacturing needs to HVAC systems
Most of TECHniques’ customers were initially manufacturers; but the company has now evolved into heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for big markets like educational institutions and health care facilities, districts, colleges and universities, as well as nursing homes, clinics, and hospitals.
Spurred by demand during COVID-19, TECHniques branched into manufacturing and customizing filters.
“COVID was an excellent thing for us in that regard,” Fichter says. “Everybody was scrambling to get masks, but the raw materials used to produce masks are the same raw materials used to produce filters, so all the raw materials were diverted toward people making masks.”
That demand made it difficult for TECHniques to maintain its supply of filtration materials. Lead times were getting longer, costs rose, and logistics were challenging. So, TECHniques started manufacturing and customizing some of its filters in-house.
Producing some of their own filters gave them more control of their supply chain, helped reduce their overall cost of doing business, and reduced lead times.
Fichter says, “These things gave us the flexibility to make custom-sized products –– something some of the bigger manufacturers weren’t very good at.”
Producing filters involves some science and engineering, but the manufacturing is straightforward. There’s a lot of cutting, sewing, and simple fabrication –– done today in a new steel building on the site. The company had expanded its footprint with a 10,000-square-foot facility about 12 years ago in Roseau. Just this spring, the company completed construction of another 10,000 square feet of work and warehouse space and, Fichter says, they’re already running out of space.
Operating with a carefully selected crew of just 12 employees, virtually all of TECHniques’ manufacturing and customizing is done manually with a band saw, cutting tools, and a sewing station. As the company moves forward and gains volume, Fichter says they can explore investing in more equipment and automation.
“We have to walk before we can run, with respect to our ability to make those investments and then get the right people hired.”
Fichter’s son CJ started working at TECHniques about eight and a half years ago and has taken on many of the managerial duties. He estimates about 10% of all orders are produced in-house, but 60-70% involve some customization rather than just distributing ready-made filters.
“Manufacturing companies continue to be our bread and butter,” Fichter says, still accounting for over 60% of their business, supplying filters for some 250 paint stations and other needs for major regional manufacturers like Polaris in Roseau, Marvin Windows in Warroad, New Flyer and Motor Coach Industries headquartered in Winnipeg, Cirrus Aircraft in Duluth and Grand Forks, and numerous others.
In the 18 years he’s been involved in TECHniques, Fichter says he has reinvested every penny back into the business. Since shipping bulky filtration systems is expensive, the company does nearly all shipping with their own trucks (four of them) and drivers.
This somewhat limits their range to the five-state area and Manitoba, but, Fichter says, “on the other hand it makes it hard for anybody else to do business in our neck of the woods.”
Return to the Spring 2025 issue of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine.
