Graco’s SaniSpray HP products (Photo courtesy of Graco)
There’s no question the coronavirus pandemic around the globe and throughout the United States has impacted everyone. Whether it may be with employment or just living our everyday lives, COVID-19 has touched us all in one way or another.
Such is the case for the manufacturing industry. As people and businesses begin to open back in Minnesota and throughout the country, individuals and corporations are looking to best sanitize various areas they come in contact with on a daily basis.
With a recent shift in demand to properly clean surfaces and buildings, two St. Cloud State University alumni have stayed busy during this time while working for Graco, a company that designs and manufactures thousands of fluid handling products and solutions for industries around the world.
Of the approximately 3,500 people Graco employs across 100 countries, at least two of those employees received their education from St. Cloud State.
The first is Tyler Sterner, who is an Associate Product Marketing Manager at Graco’s location in Rogers. Sterner graduated from SCSU in 2019 with a marketing degree.
“I support and manage two different product lines for the Contractor Equipment Division (CED) at Graco, our finishing products and our handheld sprayers specifically. My responsibility is to grow the revenue of these segments by helping guide new product development efforts based on the needs of our customers,” he said. “My favorite part of my role is the opportunity to work with most teams here at Graco – from development all the way to post-sale support of the product.”
The second SCSU graduate is Diane Olson, an engineering project manager with the company, who also works in CED located in Rogers. Olson, who has been with Graco for 25 years, graduated from SCSU in 2006 with a master’s degree in business administration.
“I oversee the research and development of new products for our division,” she said. “I’ve been doing that for my entire career and lead a team of electrical and mechanical engineering staff that spearheads new product development.”
New line of disinfectant sprayers
Right now, Sterner and Olson’s primary focus is on Graco’s new line of disinfectant sprayers, helping the company manufacture and distribute the product to consumers.
These new products allow a variety of customers, from sanitation professionals to homeowners, to disinfect and sanitize surfaces faster and provide safe environments for others.
“There always has been and always will be a need for disinfectant applications in society. Anywhere there are large groups of people in a tight proximity, there will be a need for fast disinfection or sanitization,” Olson said. “This is a sustainable product and something that can continue to be useful in society moving forward. It’s not just solely intended to be a COVID-19 solution.”
After discussions surrounding the creation of this new product line, the recent virus outbreak around the globe resulted in an accelerated timeline of production. That allowed Sterner, Olson and others at the company to begin developing a dedicated system to address the need of disinfection and sanitization.
“In early March, we started some of our activity, but some of the groundwork was already laid as considerable market and technical research has already been done,” Olson said. “I was very fortunate to get the opportunity to work on this program. As a team, we know that this will be meaningful in society and in our current situation. We feel like we are making a significant contribution and are doing something that has value and will be useful and helpful.”
With the product now on the market, Graco is selling these products in a wide variety of industries such as hospitality, health care, transportation, education, fire departments, EMT’s and many other market segments throughout the country. Most recently, the Mall of America in Bloomington purchased some of the sprayers to help with it opening back up following a shutdown of the mall due to COVID-19.
“We’ve received great feedback from customers who have been able to disinfect large areas very quickly, as this is one of the major benefits the Graco products provide. We offer a wide variety of solutions for customers who are looking to disinfect different sized surfaces – from a small table all the way up to 100,000 seat stadiums,” Sterner said.
“The most remarkable thing about the SaniSpray HP product line is that it touches almost every industry. As businesses begin to open back up, they will be looking for solutions to help ensure everything is disinfected each day. Graco’s team is proud to deliver the SaniSpray HP product line that is made right here in Minnesota, to deliver just that.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic still present and likely to be a topic for weeks and months ahead, Sterner and Olson are proud to help in any way they can to provide individuals and companies with a product such as this to keep people safe and healthy as society begins to open back up in the state and beyond.
“Our goal is to do our part to help save lives and deliver a difference for customers across the world,” Sterner said. “One of the goals we strive for here at Graco is providing top quality products and back them with A-plus customer service. We want to make sure we’re delivering value our customers can experience as they use our products in their daily lives.”
