Nick Ripplinger of Battle Sight Technologies
Nick Ripplinger, president of Dayton’s Battle Sight Technologies, recalled that when the pandemic hit, he faced two options: “Tighten the boot straps” and try to hold on or invest in new products and charge ahead as far as possible.
“We chose the second one,” Ripplinger said. “We invested heavily into new products we wanted to develop. And we also pivoted and did the hand sanitizer to help the community a little bit. But it definitely paid off for us.”
Last spring, Ripplinger, a U.S. Army veteran, completely retooled his Craytech production line to bottle hand sanitizer. Craytech is the company’s flagship product, a writing device with a pressure-activated chemiluminescence that leaves writing markings that can detected by soldiers with night-vision gear, while remaining invisible to the enemy.
“I think initially there was definitely fear of the unknown,” Ripplinger recalled. “What are we going to do? And how are we going to survive this? But I think once you make that decision, it’s just full steam ahead on the future.”
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