Editor's note: This is part of a series of articles about local companies surviving the economic downturn.

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Even the best-laid plans can be hit with bad timing.

Things were going well for in 2007 for Pittsfield Township-based home exercise equipment manufacturer NuStep, and the company had just released the most recent version of its recumbent trainer that allows low-mobility patients to get a cardiovascular workout.

“We had just launched a brand new product, that we had a very sizable investment in, and the product we launched was a more premier product,” vice president of sales and marketing Steve Sarns said.

Unfortunately, that’s when the floor fell out. In mid-2007, the "Great Recession" hit and the company saw sales drop by a full 50 percent in one month.

“So the timing of that was not ideal,” Sarns said.

“But we made the decision to showcase the new product, but also maintain our original. We had been considering phasing [the older model] out, but we kept it in so now we ended up with a more balanced portfolio of products. We now have both standard and an upper-tier premier level to offer.”

NuStep is competing for market share in the gym-and-exercise-equipment industry that IBIS World estimates was worth $4 billion in 2012. What initially seemed like bad timing actually allowed for further differentiation at a time when consumers and gyms alike were tightening their wallets.

“In hindsight, when we introduced our new product during the recession, we had this new high quality product and our competition did not. It kept us ahead of the game,” Sarns said.

“The length of time for the payback for the products was longer than we expected by about two years, but it’s there now.”

Even with its new product available, it was still a slow climb back for NuStep. Sarns said its sales recovery mimicked the stock market and came back much more slowly than they dropped.

In 2011, the company returned to the peak it had reached in 2007 and had learned some lessons along the way.

“Everything is more crystalized now. When we invest in things we look at return on investment more, and there’s a lot more accountability,” Sarns said.

“If we’re going to be doing something, we have to really tell the whole storyboard and show the justification for it and we’re tracking it more. If we’re going to add something on, it has to be shown that it’s really paying off.”

With the ship righted, and the company growing approximately 8 percent year over year, Sarns said the focus has turned back to research and development. During the recession, NuStep hired a number of automotive and pharmaceutical executives and designers who are now helping grow the company as legislation and a recovering economy could lead to much more rapid expansion.

“A major part of the Affordable Care Act is preventing the revolving door, where patients are somewhat rehabilitated but not much, and then go back to their old habits and end up coming back to the hospital,” Sarns said.

“Bascially, ACA regulations are helping NuStep because we can fill this void to help prevent re-admission by providing institutions with a machine that can really show outcomes.”

NuStep sells to gyms, hospitals and senior living facilities, but also has a growing consumer market for the product. Sarns said that as home prices dropped during the recession, many senior citizens were unable to sell their homes and move so they, or their children, looked at alternative solutions.

Approximately 34 percent of NuStep’s sales are currently in the consumer market, where retail prices for the company’s products range from $3,795 to $5,995. Sarns said that number is growing.

“We’re seeing that regular people and professionals both really want to be able to have measurable outcomes of their workouts and that’s what we’ve been able to focus on,” he said.

“Now we’re doing more investing in innovation to make sure that our products continue to improve and be top of the line in our market.”

It hasn’t been an easy six years, but Sarns is confident that his company’s response to the recession has placed it in a stronger position than it was before it hit.

“I think where we’re at right now, we have a great product and the needs are not going away,” he said.

Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Reach out to Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2.