Failing hoses leads Hermiston business to become international exporter

HERMISTON — Tucked away in a nondescript building on Hermiston’s North First Place is a business that is well known globally but little known locally.

Epha Inc., manufactures plastic hose protectors and hose routing accessories in its shop in Hermiston and ships them around the world. The U.S. Small Business Administration recently awarded the company the title the Pacific Northwest Region’s Exporter of the Year. The region encompasses Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Mitch Myers and his parents Bill and Sylvia Myers started the company in 1983. Epha Inc. has grown from humble beginnings to one recognized around the world with customers in the Pacific Rim, Africa, Europe, Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom and South America.

“We made $1,600 in total sales our first year in business,” Mitch Myers said.

Epha Inc. was an offshoot of their construction company, B and M Construction. Myers said they were looking for a way to protect their own equipment’s hoses from damage caused through heavy use over time.

“Our hoses kept failing,” Myers said.

According to its website, the hose protectors are essentially “durable wear shields made of an abrasion- and hydrocarbon-resistant material that is impervious to solvents, oils, grease, and gasoline.” They can also withstand temperatures ranging from -40 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Myers family designed the hose protectors, which worked well for their own equipment, and they soon began marketing them regionally to other companies.

They found a manufacturer in Florence to produce them, but within a few years the popularity of their product began to grow and the manufacturer in Florence could no longer keep up with the demand.

“Eventually we moved our manufacturing to a Minnesota manufacturer to take over our production,” Myers said.

But, again, within a few years Epha Inc.’s demand outpaced that manufacturer’s ability to keep up.

Organic growth

Epha’s first big break came when it received a large order for custom-branded hose protectors from John Deere in the late 1980s.

“It was nearly a $300,000 order,” Myers said, adding the company didn’t have the production capacity to produce that size of an order.

“We attempted to get a loan from Inland Empire Bank (now Banner Bank) to fill the John Deere order but was flat out turned down being told by the bank that it didn’t think we could sell any and should stick to our construction business,” Myers said. “With help from our manufacturer, we managed to fill the John Deere order.”

With demanding sales growth, Epha Inc. eventually built its own factory and began manufacturing products in Hermiston with one molding press.

“That and many subsequent orders dictated that we increase our molding capacity,” Myers said.

Shortly after the John Deere order came in, the company received a $250,000 order from Case New Holland and then another large order from Massey Ferguson.

The growth came organically by word of mouth, Myers said.

“We don’t do any advertising,” he said.

The new demands meant continuing to invest in the company.

“As we grew, the demands on the small molder grew,” he said.

The company now runs four molding presses with a fifth one soon to be added.

Epha Inc.’s products have expanded to more than 100 products, which include hose spacers and hose looms for routing hoses.

“Our parts are now used by companies around the world, both by end-users and original equipment manufacturers,” Myers said.

The hose protectors were part of the Nautilus unmanned craft that discovered the Titanic. They also were used on SPACE X, the Asian 200 mph bullet train and the equipment that bored the English Channel Tunnel, to name a few.

Myers said about a quarter of his business comes from the U.S. military and other defense companies that build equipment for the military. Orders are shipped as far away as Argentina, Africa, the United Kingdom, France, Bolivia, Peru and others.

Expanding global reach

Myers chalked up the company’s success to hard work and adapting to his clients’ needs.

“We just kept improving our designs and materials we used,” he said. “It has been a 42-year evolution. It’s been an approach of listening to our customers and following through on their needs.”

Myers said their original manufacturer made 600 hose protectors a day when it started. Now the company can produce thousands of parts per hour at its Hermiston factory.

“We manufacture millions of parts each year,” Myers said. “We just evolved over four decades. We went from one size of hose protector to 100 different types of parts. We invent the parts, we mold the parts, we package the parts, we market the parts, and we distribute the parts. We do everything.”

And the company is continuing to increase its global reach.

In 2024, Epha Inc. got a loan guarantee from the Small Business Administration, which allowed it to expand their international marketing, resulting in a 35% increase in global sales.

Apollo Fuhriman, SBA regional administrator for the Pacific Northwest, said Epha Inc. “exemplifies how small manufacturers can grow their businesses by expanding into international markets Utilizing resources offered by the SBA and partner organizations, Epha continues to increase their manufacturing capacity and revenues benefitting both the Hermiston and national economies.”

Myers said Epha Inc. began as a family business and remains so to this day. It was named after his paternal grandmother, who died around the time of the company’s formation. His daughter, Nicole Brown, serves as executive vice president.

He credited the willingness of only a few area bankers for seeing potential in his company at times of need and growth by providing access to capital to grow his business.

“We currently do most of our banking through Gesa Federal Credit Union in the Tri Cities, but we have also gotten support from Jeff Bailey at Bank of Eastern Oregon,” Myers said.

Everything is done with a small crew ranging from six to eight people out of a modest shop on North First Place that doesn’t even have the company name on it. And, Myers said, there is no intent to slow down any time soon.

“Since our first day back in 1983 to current, we have produced and sold over 45 million hose protectors,” he said. “I get a chuckle, and makes me think back to when the Inland bank turned our loan request down, telling me and dad he didn’t think we could sell any of them.

“It’s been a snowball rolling down a hill for 40+ years,” he said. “It just keeps getting bigger.”