Waltz Engineering Finds Its Niche in Industrial Laundry Equipment and Boiler Plants

2023 SmallBiz Editor’s Choice Award winner: Owners Dick and Lorinda Waltz serve Hawai‘i, Pacific islands and U.S. Navy bases around the world.

“Waltz Engineering was started very originally by my dad in 1952 in California,” says Dick Waltz, VP and senior project manager.

The company first came to Hawai‘i to build a plant for Al Phillips The Cleaner on McCully Street, which eventually led it into the equipment business. In 1986, Waltz and his wife, Lorinda, started Waltz Engineering in Hawai‘i.

The company now supplies industrial equipment, primarily laundry plants and boiler plants for hospitality companies, hospitals, schools and the government. “The U.S. government is a major customer of Waltz Engineering, particularly the Navy,” Waltz says.

In addition to its business in Hawai‘i, Waltz Engineering also does work on many Pacific Islands, including Guam, Saipan and Palau.

“We also go wherever there is a U.S. Navy base,” Waltz says. “We go to Okinawa and South Korea and as far as Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.”

Lorinda Waltz credits the company’s great team of employees – their ‘ohana – for their success over the years.

“The other part of our huge success is Dick’s relationships with our customers,” she says.

The business is doing well coming out of the pandemic, especially as the hospitality industry bounces back. In 2022, its gross revenue was $6 million to $7 million.

Waltz Engineering is not a flashy company – it does most of its work in the background, says Lorinda Waltz. But, she says, the company takes pride in its integrity and strong customer support.

Dick Waltz offers one other characterization of the company: focused on the present while “we’re always looking for long-term plans.”