Hunt Valve plans to expand

Staff report

SALEM

A local company’s new leadership is looking to expand its core markets to enlarge the business.

Hunt Valve, a fluid-power engineering company that specializes in severe-duty valves and components located at 1913 E. State St., focuses on the defense industry now, but will venture to the industrial business.

“The largest market for us is the U.S. Navy,” said Brad Sterner, Hunt Valve’s president and chief executive officer. “We supply speciality valves for nuclear-powered submarines as well as the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.”

Hunt Valve’s severe-duty valves also can be applied in the transportation, energy and oil-and-gas industry.

Hunt Valve was founded in 1919 and recently was acquired by May River Capital, a private investment firm. The acquisition closed in November.

Hunt Valve has 50 employees, but an increase in volume expected by the company would lead to an increase in the workforce.

“To maintain a dominant position in its highly competitive industrial and military markets, Hunt Valve made significant investments during the past few years in production equipment as well as advanced nondestructive-testing capabilities,” Sterner said. “We have the capacity we need here in Northeast Ohio to support our aggressive expansion plans.”