Graco Inc.

Last updated
Graco Inc.
Company type Public
Founded1926;99 years ago (1926)
FounderRussell Gray
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Mark W. Sheahan (President and CEO)
  • Lee R. Mitau (Chairman)
ProductsFluid and Powder Handling Equipment
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$2.19 billion (2023)
Increase2.svgUS$647 million (2023)
Increase2.svgUS$507 million (2023)
Total assets Increase2.svgUS$2.72 billion (2023)
Total equity Increase2.svgUS$2.22 billion (2023)
Number of employees
4,000 (2023)
Divisions Contractor, Industrial, Process
Website graco.com
Footnotes /references
[1] [2]

Graco Inc. is an American industrial company that specializes in the development and manufacturing of fluid-handling systems and products. The company is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and markets its products to customers worldwide. [3]

Contents

History

Russell Gray, a Minneapolis parking lot attendant, founded Gray Company, Inc. in 1926 with his brother Leil Gray to produce and sell Russell's air-powered grease gun, invented in response to cold weather making hand-powered grease guns inoperable. [3] Sales their first year of operation were $35,000. [3]

By 1941, annual sales had reached $1 million. [3] They capitalized on opportunities in defense-based lubricating needs during World War II. After World War II, Graco began expanding outside of lubricant handling, developing a paint pump and direct-from-drum industrial fluids pumps.

By the mid-1950s they had expanded to $5 million in sales and 400 employees, and were servicing fluid handling needs in a wide variety of industries. [3]

Leil Gray died in 1958, and was succeeded as president by Harry A. Murphy. [3] He was succeeded in turn by David A Koch in 1962. [3] The company continued to expand, helped by the 1957 introduction of the airless spray gun. By 1969, when Gray Company went public and changed its name to Graco, it had annual sales of $33 million. [3]

After acquiring H. G. Fischer & Co, a manufacturer of electrostatic finishing products, sales continued to climb, reflecting an industry-wide shift in automobile painting from air-based to electrostatic technologies. [3] By 1979, sales had climbed to $100 million. [3]

In 1981, Graco started a joint-venture called Graco Robotics, Inc. (GRI) with Edon Finishing Systems. [3]

Divisions

Contractor Equipment Division

Graco currently has airless sprayers, line striping units, fine finish equipment, texture sprayers, roof coating rigs, and pressure washers on the Contractor Equipment Division (CED). [4]

Lubrication Equipment Division

In the Lubrication Equipment Division (LED), Graco produces automatic lubrication equipment, vehicle lubrication maintenance and repair equipment, and a variety of activators and switches for the lubrication process. [5]

Industrial Products Division

In Graco's Industrial Products Division (IPD), there are a wide range of pneumatic, hydraulic, and electric pumps created to withstand tough finishing applications. IPD also has different fine-finish pump packages which can spray with air, assisted by air, or airless. [6]

Products

Graco is a company that specializes in fluid handling systems and equipment. They are known for producing a wide range of products used in various industries, including manufacturing, construction, automotive, and more. Some of their main product categories include:

  1. Fluid Transfer Systems: Graco manufactures pumps, hoses, reels, and other equipment used for transferring fluids like paints, oils, chemicals, and lubricants.
  2. Spray Equipment: Graco is well known for its spray painting and coating equipment. This includes airless paint sprayers, texture sprayers, line striping equipment, and more.
  3. Dispensing Equipment: They produce dispensing solutions for precise application of fluids in industries like automotive manufacturing, electronics, and food processing.
  4. Foam and Polyurethane Equipment: Graco manufactures equipment used in the production of foam and polyurethane products, such as insulation, packaging materials, and more.
  5. Lubrication Systems: Graco designs and manufactures lubrication systems and equipment for various applications, ensuring machinery and equipment run smoothly.
  6. Sealant and Adhesive Application: They provide equipment for applying sealants, adhesives, and other bonding materials in industries like construction and automotive assembly.
  7. Process Control Systems: Graco's process control equipment is used for monitoring and managing various industrial processes, ensuring quality and efficiency.
  8. Cleaners and Sanitizers: They produce equipment for cleaning and sanitizing applications, including pressure washers, sanitizing sprayers, and more.

TOP of Graco products is:

Markets served

Graco serves a wide variety of markets, including painting, anti-corrosion, fluid transfer, gluing and sanitary applications, automotive, aeronautic, body refinish, wood, building and construction, and marine. [7] They distribute through a global network of equipment dealers and retail stores. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lubricant</span> Substance introduced to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact

A lubricant is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, transporting foreign particles, or heating or cooling the surfaces. The property of reducing friction is known as lubricity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diaphragm pump</span> Type of positive displacement pump

A diaphragm pump is a positive displacement pump that uses a combination of the reciprocating action of a rubber, thermoplastic or teflon diaphragm and suitable valves on either side of the diaphragm (check valve, butterfly valves, flap valves, or any other form of shut-off valves) to pump a fluid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spray painting</span> Painting technique in which a device sprays coating material through the air onto a surface

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">ZF Friedrichshafen</span> German car parts maker

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A rotary atomizer is an automatic electrostatic paint applicator used in high volume, automatic production painting environments. Also called a 'paint bell', "rotary bell atomizer" or 'bell applicator', it is preferred for high volume paint application for its superior transfer efficiency, spray pattern consistency, and low compressed air consumption, when compared to a paint spray gun. It can be mounted in a fixed position, reciprocating arm, or an industrial robot.

Loctite is an American brand of adhesives, sealants, surface treatments, and other industrial chemicals that include acrylic, anaerobic, cyanoacrylate, epoxy, hot melt, silicone, urethane, and UV/light curing technologies. Loctite products are sold globally and are used in a variety of industrial and hobbyist applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spray bottle</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spray nozzle</span> Device that facilitates dispersion of liquid into a spray

A spray nozzle or atomizer is a device that facilitates the dispersion of a liquid by the formation of a spray. The production of a spray requires the fragmentation of liquid structures, such as liquid sheets or ligaments, into droplets, often by using kinetic energy to overcome the cost of creating additional surface area. A wide variety of spray nozzles exist, that make use of one or multiple liquid breakup mechanisms, which can be divided into three categories: liquid sheet breakup, jets and capillary waves. Spray nozzles are of great importance for many applications, where the spray nozzle is designed to have the right spray characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paint robot</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polyphenyl ether</span> Class of polymers

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Automatic lubrication system</span>

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References

  1. "2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 20, 2024.
  2. "Mark Sheahan | Global Officers | Graco".
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Graco Inc".
  4. "Graco Products & Support for Contractors". www.graco.com.
  5. "Lubrication Equipment for Machinery and Vehicles | Graco". www.graco.com. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  6. "Graco Inc.-Industrial Products Division". Products Finishing. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  7. "Home". contractorclub.eu.
  8. "GGG - Graco Inc. Profile | Reuters". Reuters .