INDUSTRY INTERVIEW: Hardigg Cases

Stephen Smiaroski
Government Product Manager
Hardigg Cases

Stephen Smiaroski is government product manager for Hardigg Cases, a division of Hardigg Industries Inc. Hardigg Cases is a leading manufacturer of government air-tight and water-tight shipping and storage cases. The company specializes in providing packaging solutions for the military and military suppliers of information technology, communications, medical, weaponry, aircraft components and transportation logistics. More than 500,000 Hardigg cases are in use by the military, with a large percentage in use every day in Iraq, Afghanistan and other harsh environments.

Q: Can you tell us about Hardigg and its role in the equipment case industry?

A: We have been in the military packaging business since 1954, specializing in providing reusable packaging solutions to the military for worldwide environmental conditions. Hardigg Cases has grown from a small company of three employees to more than 400 associates, with an engineering department, test lab facilities, foam and cushioning system departments, state-of-the-art injection molding and roto-molding production facilities, mold manufacturing and machine shop. We have an extensive dealer network that is well-educated in government packaging, and we have fostered relationships with the SOF community and major military suppliers. Hardigg Cases is now a leader in the user-friendly military case market.

Q: Why are cases an important topic for SOF?

A: Cases are extremely important to the SOF community because the case is your equipments’ first line of defense against sand, dust, water, humidity, shock and vibration. The spec ops guys must have equipment that is in good working condition and ready for action. The associates at Hardigg Cases know that you must have working equipment downrange to have a successful mission. We have over 50 years experience in engineering packaging systems designed to protect vital equipment. We use our experience to do everything possible to ensure that the packaging solution adequately protects the equipment. It is our job to protect the equipment that protects the special operator.

Q: Why are Hardigg Cases and Storm Cases used by special operations?

A: Because we provide unique products and solutions for this very unique group. While we often work together to create custom solutions for SOF needs, we have found that many of our standard cases and systems are the right products for special operations. Early on we realized that they were interested in more than just the Hardigg Mobile Armory cases. They became very interested in Hardigg Mobile Medical cases, Hardigg Mobile IT cases, Hardigg Mobile Master cases as well as Hardigg Mobile Office cases.

Q: What unique benefits does Hardigg provide the SOF customers?

A: We provide SOF customers with choices such as standard solutions that are pre-designed battle-proven and readily available through our dealer network, GSA Advantage or Emall. Hardigg Cases also works with teams that have specific requirements for custom-design systems. We have over 350 case sizes and we continue to add new sizes every year. We now have over 300 military specific product configurations.

Hardigg Cases also provides local support and custom manufacturing from our regional Hardigg Case Centers located in seven U.S. states, Canada and the U.K.

Q: What are the benefits of pre-designed and custom cases, and for what conditions is each best suited?

A: Hardigg Cases has a standard military product line that comprises designs based on input from multiple military users and our package engineering experience. Cases for a variety of equipment and configurations are available as standard solutions: Hardigg Mobile Armory cases for military and law enforcement weapons, Mobile IT cases for laptops, printers, servers and other information technology equipment, Mobile Office solutions that include field desks, footlockers, and Mobile Master cases that were developed to stack, interlock and perfectly cube out a 463L pallet. We also have the Technomad products that are rugged weatherproof PA system for PSYOPS groups, base-wide paging or training systems.

Custom case products require engineering design specific for each customer. The possibilities for custom design include, but are not limited to, modifying exterior hardware, specialized shock mitigation systems, size modification of existing cases, specific shock and vibration requirements, and designing new molds based on the customer’s requirements. A Hardigg Cases representative and a Hardigg Cases packaging engineer work closely with the customer to design a custom packaging system. Depending on the specifics, lead times and costs will vary. However, many custom cases ship in one to two weeks.

The SOF folks are an extremely bright and talented group. We very much enjoy working with them because they are honest people that tell you what they like and don’t like about a product and they push the envelope of technology. This is a great match for Hardigg because we listen to what our customers want and are willing to develop the products they need. There are many box companies that sell to the military and most are happy to sell you a box. I can tell you that Hardigg Cases and our dealers are truly interested in providing packaging solutions to protect equipment that assists and protects the warfighter. ♦

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