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1979
Jay Hardy and Rob Shibata, having both earned a bachelor's degree in Biology and endeavoring to become Clinical Lab Scientists, are accepted into the Medical Technology training program at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
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1980
Jay and Rob graduate and pass state exams as Clinical Laboratory Scientists.
Jobs are scarce so the daring, if not foolhardy, decision is made to attempt a new business together making culture media for the local labs in Santa Barbara. Hardy Media is born!
A two-room suite is rented in Santa Barbara, CA and the first plates are poured using antiquated second hand equipment. The founders continue to believe that they can do a better job of servicing the local laboratories.
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| 1981
Not allowing the dream to die, seed money amounting to a modest sum of $20,000 is loaned to Jay and Rob from their parents in order to keep their new endeavor alive.
One by one more laboratories join the growing ranks of Hardy Customers. |
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1982
Rob vigorously markets the Hardy Media product to hospitals in the neighboring cities of Ventura, Bakersfield, and San Luis Obispo.
Business picks up; Rob and Jay make a "sink or swim" decision and quit their day jobs in the hospital laboratory. |
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1983
Continued growth is experienced and more space is desperately needed; the business moves to Goleta into a rented 2,000 square foot facility.
Remel attempts to buy out Hardy Media. The answer is "No!"
Rob makes the difficult decision to sell his 50% ownership in the company in order to join his father's flower wholesale business in Northern California. |
| 1984
Hardy Media's first personal computer is purchased, and the trusty IBM typewriter is discarded. |
| 1985
BD sends an executive to California and attempts to buy out Hardy Media. The answer is "No!" |
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1986
More space is needed again, and the company moves back to Santa Barbara into a leased facility of 11,000 square feet next to the harbor. |
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1987
The first full time sales rep is hired.
Hardy Media begins its relationship with MicroBioLogics and distributes its ATCC® derived microorganisms. |
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1988
Hardy Media begins to sell to the entire state of California. |
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1989
Nathaniel Graessle, a recent graduate from UC Santa Barbara, joins the company as an accountant and later becomes the CFO. |
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1990
Growing pains again. 1.3 acres are purchased in Santa Maria for a future building site. |
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1991
A new 25,000 square foot building, with extensive cleanroom facilities is finished, and the move from Santa Barbara to Santa Maria is accomplished. |
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1992
Jay decides to change the name from Hardy Media to Hardy Diagnostics as the lab supply distribution portion of the business is emphasized. |
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1993
High speed, multi-line Petri plate filling equipment is implemented. |
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1994
High speed automated tube filling, capping, and labeling equipment is implemented. |
| 1995
Hardy Diagnostics displays at the National ASM convention for the first time. |
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1996
Chromogenic media from Europe is introduced by Hardy Diagnostics into the USA for the first time.
Christopher Catani, a Medical Technologist from Chicago, joins the company as an industrial sales rep and later becomes the Director of Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service. |
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1997
iRenaissance, a comprehensive software package, is implemented to handle multiple warehouses and more complex inventory control functions.
Dilu-lok™ dilution bottles are introduced to the food and pharmaceutical industry. |
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1998
Two new distribution centers are opened up; one in Arizona and one in Utah, for better coverage of the Southwest. |
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1999
A dehydrated powder product line is launched, and named CRITERION™. An International marketing effort has begun. |
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2000
HUGO™ software is released to assist customers with technical information. Hardy Diagnostics is the first in the industry to offer a digital technical manual.
Hardy Diagnostics launches its first website. |
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2001
Sales top $12,000,000.
HUGO™ technical documents are now available on-line through the Hardy Diagnostics web catalog. |
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2002
Jay buys out his second partner and takes over the management of the entire company in September.
Hardy Diagnostics enters into an agreement to market hospital lab proficiency testing programs for the American Proficiency Institute (API).
Hardy Diagnostics begins to market a complete line of diagnostic products for the dairy industry to combat bovine mastitis. |
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2003
A company-wide Profit Sharing and Open Book Management program is introduced to all employees.
A new Distribution Center is opened in Washington State to complete the "next day" coverage of the Western states.
New, expanded QC, QA, and Chemistry laboratories are completed in the Santa Maria headquarters.
Hardy Diagnostics surpasses PML to become the country's third largest culture media manufacturer. |
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2004
More growing pains; construction of a new 25,000 square foot building on the neighboring lot in Santa Maria is begun.
Hardy Diagnostics is honored by being presented with the "Founder's Award" from the Santa Maria Valley Economic Development Association.
For better coverage of the Midwest and Eastern states a new Distribution Center in Lima, Ohio is successfully opened.
Ryan Burks, a Westmont College graduate and teacher, joins Hardy Diagnostics as a sales administrator and later becomes the Director of Logistics to oversee all six warehouse operations.
Rene Clasen, a public health microbiologist and loyal Hardy Diagnostics customer for 15 years, joins Hardy Diagnostics as a tech service representative, and later moves up to the Director of Technical Services (Tech Support, QC, and R&D).
Hardy Diagnostics receives the "Spirit of Small Business" award for North Santa Barbara County sponsored by the Los Angeles District of the US Small Business Administration. |
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2005
A new building, the "East Wing", is completed featuring a new warehouse, offices, conference rooms, break room, and packaging room.
"Lean Manufacturing" methods are implemented throughout the company as a part of the Continuous Quality Improvement program.
Hardy Diagnostics’ innovative "Carrot Broth™" is studied by multiple hospitals and marketed throughout the U.S. with great success. Carrot Broth™ is used to diagnose Group B Strep infections in pregnant women in order to prevent sepsis in newborns.
Eddie Mendoza, a recent graduate in computer technology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, joins the IS staff and will become the Director within four months.
The company earns its ISO 13485 Certification for medical devices from the registrar, QMI. This will provide a welcome boost to foreign and pharmaceutical sales. |
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2006
The HardyVAL™ line of proficiency testing products for hospital pharmacy technicians is introduced and a separate website is launched.
The company now has 160 workers.
A new Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is introduced for the benefit of all Hardy Diagnostics co-workers. Pastor Rob Litzinger becomes the new "company chaplain" and offers free counseling for those in need.
Hardy Diagnostics becomes one of the first to offer ATCC Licensed Derivative® control microorganisms through MicroBioLogics (MBL).
The 6th edition of HUGO™ is launched. This time with close-up color photos showing growth characteristics of bacteria and fungi on Hardy Diagnostics’ media. |
| 2007
The sixth Distribution Center is opened up in Dallas, Texas to provide next day service to Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
Hardy Diagnostics’ own formulation, HardyCHROM™ chromogenic media is released for E.coli, Coliforms, Staph, Salmonella, Candida, and UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). Chromogenic culture media helps the microbiologist to identify the bacteria or fungus based on unique colony color.
New powder blending and packaging rooms are completed and equipped with new high volume blending machines.
A renovation of the plate and tube manufacturing cleanrooms and prep areas is begun.
Polycarbonate tubes and bottles are utilized as an option to glass for increased safety and lighter weight.
The first Hardy Diagnostics email newsletter called Micro~Bytes was sent to all customers to keep them up-to-date on the latest products and services, while featuring articles of interest for microbiologists. |
2008
The "Hardy Enterprise Center" consisting of 25,000 square feet was added to the Hardy Diagnostics campus to provide new offices, warehouse, photo studio, cleanrooms, and manufacturing rooms. The Hardy campus now consists of 76,000 square feet of building space in Santa Maria.
Hardy Diagnostics goes green by installing skylights and replacing lighting with energy efficient fluorescent and LED bulbs.
Certificates of Analysis are now offered to all customers on the internet for 24/7 access.
New comprehensive customer care software (Pivotal) was purchased and implemented to enhance our client services.
Hardy Diagnostics becomes certified by the American Heart Association as an official "Fit Friendly Workplace" due to its commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles.
Alistair Wood, another Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo grad, assumes the leadership of the Quality Assurance Department.
Hardy purchases Para Scientific, the leading manufacturer of parasitology filter/funnels. |
| 2009
Comprehensive manufacturing software was implemented to achieve better control over raw material inventory and associated costs.
Hardy purchases Bacti-Lab™, a culture media company in the San Francisco Bay Area that specializes in doctor and vet office microbiology systems. The "Derm-Duet™" and "Sab-Duet™" used for skin fungal cultures become Hardy products.
New high speed plate pouring equipment was installed, which will fill, label, and bag over 9,000 Petri plates per hour.
A new lyophilzer was implemented to freeze-dry various solutions, such as rabbit plasma and media chromogens, in order to increase the shelf life of various labile products.
HUGO™ version 7 was released to keep all customers updated with current technical information.
The Micro~Bytes Newsletter now has over 7,000 regular readers.
Hardy Diagnostics was included in the Inc. 5000. This put Hardy Diagnostics among the nation's 5000 fastest growing companies according to Inc. Magazine.
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2010
The CRITERION™ bottle was completely re-designed to include better seals.
The Director of Manufacturing position was assumed by Kimball Lombardi, a graduate in Industrial Technology from Georgia Tech with extensive experience in Lean Manufacturing.
The online ordering feature on the Hardy Website was upgraded to include a feature-rich program, so that customers can easily place an order at anytime.
A new onsite 1,200sf gym was provided for the Hardy employees.
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