About Us

What we do

Peter and Olaf Harken

Harken Industrial is a division of Harken, Inc. We design and manufacture a broad range of high-end, material-handling apparatus. Strong, lightweight products include low-friction winches, pulleys, linear motion cars and track, and roller furling equipment in aluminum, stainless steel, or titanium.

 

Headquartered in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, Harken manufactures in the USA and Italy. Its network includes offices in 48 countries, with group offices located in Australia, France, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Rhode Island, California, and Florida).

 

 

  • Our History
  • Our Philosophy
  • International Offices
  • Media Section
First ball bearing pulley

Harken began in 1968 as Vanguard, a small company owned by two brothers, Peter and Olaf Harken. Vanguard started out building collegiate sailing dinghies and thermoplastic recirculating ball bearing pulleys, but soon grew into a prominent builder of Olympic class sailboats. Harken, as the hardware line became known, developed ball bearing hardware for diverse applications.

 

NASA track system
Harken track system for NASA

Approaching problems as potential solutions has led to Harken's expansion outside of the sailing industry, including developing track and a window-handling system for NASA, pulleys for archeological expeditions, putting deck gear and furling on a trans-Antarctica support boat, developing an advanced pedal craft called the Waterbug, designing a winching system for a Mount Everest expedition and an instrument installation system for jet fighters, and even winning the Land Sailing World Championships in an ice boat with wheels. Harken’s reputation is built on its creativity and reliability, and Harken continues to strive for solutions, even to problems as yet unknown.

 

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Keep the well being of our people first. Our greatest asset is our employees.

Make the highest quality products at a fair price.

Serve our customers beyond their expectations.

Never lose our sense of right from wrong.

Harken Corporate Headquarters

Corporate Headquarters: 1251 East Wisconsin Avenue, Pewaukee, WI 53072, USA

Harken Adriatik d.o.o.
Obala 107
6320 Portoroz
Slovenia

Harken Australia Pty, Ltd.
1B Green Street
Brookvale, N.S.W. 2100
Australia

Harken France
ZA Port des Minimes, BP 3064
17032 La Rochelle Cedex 1 France

Harken Italy S.p.A.
Via Marco Biagi, 14
22070 Limido Comasco (CO)
Italy

Harken New Zealand, Ltd.
30-36 Fanshawe Street
P.O. Box 1951
Auckland 1001, New Zealand

Harken Polska Sp z.o.o
UI Lisa Kuli 4 Lok 1
01-512 Warsaw, Poland

Harken Sweden AB
Mjölkekilsgatan 6
Box 64
S-440 30 Marstrand, Sweden

Harken UK, Ltd.
Bearing House, Ampress Lane
Lymington, Hampshire S041 8LW
England

Press Releases:

External Access System

Access Winch