Member of the Week 10/3/2022 -- Rayco Manufacturing
In recognition of Manufacturing Month, the Chamber will be featuring some of our local manufacturers throughout the month of October to highlight the importance of the industry in our community.
Across the world, you can find a Rayco product wherever there is a tree. Founded in 1978, in Wooster by John M. Bowling, Rayco Manufacturing fills a unique need in the tree and landscape industry. The current range of Rayco products includes stump cutters, crawler trucks, forestry mulchers, and an aerial trimmer. The company is dedicated to the design and production of innovative environmental equipment.
GETTING STARTED
When John M. Bowling was told he would need to wait 2 years to acquire the stump cutter he needed to complete a landscaping job he decided instead to build his own. In the back of his garage in Wooster, he built his own stump cutter. When someone saw it and asked to buy it Rayco had its first sale. Bowling continued to build and sell stump cutters and when he outgrew the garage he built a pole barn near Apple Creek Road and state Route 3. Bowling then built what is now known as Building 1 of the current Rayco location and it has continued to grow ever since.
CLEARING THE WAY
Rayco’s forestry mulchers and stump cutters are built to quickly clear unwanted trees and brush from pipelines and transmission lines, highways, roads and trails, firebreaks, forest management, private property maintenance and land clearing.
When land needs to be cleared following a forest fire or natural disaster, Rayco-manufactured machines are used to turn the downed trees into mulch. Over 100 machines were shipped to Australia last year to clear the land devastated by forest fires. Domestically, they ship a significant amount of machines to California and Florida to aid in the prevention and clean-up of forest fires.
Several years ago, Rayco sold a crawler to Latvia to clear trees near the one high density transmission line that provides power to the entire country. One winter, a tree fell on the line causing a power outage across the country. Latvia now runs a Rayco crawler all year long to keep trees clear from the power line and ensure the power stays on for residents and businesses across Latvia.
COMMUNITY-MINDED
While it might not be a family-owned company today, Rayco has maintained a family and community mindset through the transitions. They are continuing to grow their involvement and commitment to the Wooster area and surrounding communities.
The Rayco team enjoys participating in the annual Touch a Truck, Girls with Goggles, and Wayne County Manufacturing Day events that take place throughout the area.
They understand the importance of educating the next generation and are a proud sponsor of the engineering classes at Wooster and Orrville schools. They have also committed to sponsoring Women in Engineering at Wooster High School. Schools have found that it can be intimidating for young women to be nearly the only female in a class with 30 men. The class is designed specifically for young women to feel comfortable learning about engineering. Rayco is also part of a corporate sponsorship for the national organization of Women in Manufacturing. The organization is working toward a world in which a diverse and inclusive manufacturing sector offers equitable opportunities and rewarding careers for all people.
Rayco is also supporting classes and robotics teams at Triway High School.
SKY’S THE LIMIT
Rayco has seen a lot of change in recent years since transitioning from a family-run business after being sold in 2017 to being part of a publicly traded company with Alamo Group in 2019.
Rayco still produces its original lines of stump cutters and forestry crawlers, but has added The Boxer, which is a line of stand-up skid steers as well as the Denis Cimaf forestry roller.
“There are over a trillion trees on the planet and someone has to take care of them,” Jim Pindell, Human Resource Manager said.
As the company anticipates continued growth, the team is invested in encouraging diversity in its employees. Currently, around 15 percent of Rayco employees are women and they are on track to reach their goal of increasing that to 25 percent.
CONTACT
Rayco Manufacturing is located at 4255 E. Lincoln Way in Wooster. For Sales, Parts and Service call 800-255-8839 or 330-264-8699. Follow them on Facebook at Rayco Manufacturing, LLC.
