On target; Indian Industries and parent company Escalade take aim at the sports-equipment market.

• Author: Wiesjahn, Lisa
• Position: Indian Industries Inc.; Escalade Inc.

For years, archers around the world took aim with Indian Archery products made by Evansville's Indian Industries.

Parent company Escalade is now taking aim at many more markets from its Evansville headquarters, still found in the Indian Industries building. Escalade also owns Martin Yale, an office-equipment producer based in Wabash, and Harvard Sports, a California-based manufacturer of basketball, table-tennis, pool and dart products.

In 1993, Escalade's total sales exceeded $94.7 million. That's a far cry from the $800,000 sales posted by Indian Industries in 1962--the year current CEO Robert Griffin and three partners purchased the business. And Escalade's $6.2 million profit last year is up significantly from the $1.8 million profit the year before, and a marked improvement over the $7.5 million loss of 1990. Griffin expects continued sales and profit growth this year in both sporting goods and office equipment.

Griffin says one of the keys to Escalade's success has been diversification. The company has broadened product lines and made acquisitions that have built a foundation for an expected $100 million in sales this year. The sporting-goods market will claim about 85 percent of that figure, Griffin says.

"We learned early on that the demand for sporting goods is very seasonal, and the popularity of certain items runs in cycles," he reflects. "There are ups and downs that you can't control, so we began broadening our product base to make sure that all of our eggs were not in one basket. Doing that has balanced the ups and downs, and we're not affected so adversely now by seasonal and cyclical demand."

Indeed, Escalade's diverse line of sporting goods finds its way year-round to such mass merchandisers as Wal-Mart and Target; to chain sporting-goods stores, some national, some regional; to such department stores as Sears, J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward; and to pro shops that carry high-end, specialized sporting equipment.

Among the arrows in the Escalade quiver are products of Indian Industries, which include Indian Archery targets, bows, arrows and accessories. The Indian Xi series features top-of-the-line bows that rank among the fastest and quietest on the market; pro shops carry these. Indian also has licensing agreements to produce a variety of other products, including Stiga table-tennis tables and accessories, Spalding basketball backboards and goals, and other Spalding equipment for volleyball, badminton, croquet, horseshoes, darts, table tennis, bocce ball and pool. Indian has facilities in Evansville that employ between 380 and 520 people.

Another Escalade company, Harvard Sports, is recognized as a high-quality maker of basketball backboards, goals and poles, plus table-tennis tables and accessories. Harvard also makes pool tables and accessories and a line of...