Company type | Public company |
---|---|
NYSE: TTC S&P 400 Component | |
Industry | Irrigation supplies, landscape & turf maintenance products |
Founded | 1914 |
Headquarters | Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide [1] |
Key people | Richard Olson, Chairman, President and CEO |
Products | Turf and landscape maintenance, snow and ice management, underground utility construction, rental and specialty construction, and irrigation and outdoor lighting solutions |
Revenue | US$4.51 billion (2022) [2] |
Number of employees | 11,280 (full-time) [3] |
Website | thetorocompany |
The Toro Company is an American company based in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota that designs, manufactures, and markets lawn mowers, snow blowers, and irrigation system supplies for commercial and residential, agricultural, and public sector uses.
The company was established as the "Toro Motor Company" in 1914 to build tractor engines for The Bull Tractor Company. [4] In 1948, Toro entered the push mower market, acquiring Whirlwind Corp. They sold push mowers under this name for several years. In 1952, the Whirlwind's factory in Windom, Minnesota was closed.
In 1986 Toro acquired the Wheel Horse Products Division of American Motors Corporation (AMC). [5] [6] [7] Wheel Horse manufactured lawn and garden tractors as well as riding lawn mowers. The division was spun off from AMC for $8 million so that the automaker could maintain focus on vehicles. [8]
Lawn and garden tractors were then marketed under the Toro, Wheel Horse, and Toro Wheel Horse names. Acquisitions continued with the purchase of Lawn-Boy in 1989 from Outboard Marine Corporation.
In the 1990s, then CEO Kendrick Melrose changed the company's strategy, shifting its focus to golf courses, sports fields, municipal parks, and commercial properties. The company acquired James Hardie Irrigation in 1996, Exmark Manufacturing in 1997, Hayter in 2005, Rain Master Irrigation Systems, and Turf Guard Wireless Monitoring Technology in 2007.
In 2007 almost 70 percent of the company's sales came from professional markets, versus one-third in 1990. In 2007, the low-end lawn and garden tractor product manufacturing was outsourced to MTD Products, to be sold at Home Depot stores. [9] Toro discontinued its Wheel Horse models and retired the brand name in 2007. [10] Products and other brands expanded with Toro's purchases of TYCROP Manufacturing turf equipment product line in 2009 and USPraxis in 2010.
In 2014, the snowplow and snow removal equipment company Boss Products was purchased by Toro. [11]
On February 15, 2019, Toro announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire privately held The Charles Machine Works, the parent company of Ditch Witch and MTI Equipment and other brands, for $700 million. [12]
In May 2022, Toro announced it was bringing an automated robotic mower to market in spring 2023. [13]
The company's products are marketed under several brands: [14]
A lawn mower is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower but generally is adjustable by the operator, typically by a single master lever or by a mechanism on each of the machine's wheels. The blades may be powered by manual force, with wheels mechanically connected to the cutting blades so that the blades spin when the mower is pushed forward, or the machine may have a battery-powered or plug-in electric motor. The most common self-contained power source for lawn mowers is a small internal combustion engine. Smaller mowers often lack any form of self-propulsion, requiring human power to move over a surface; "walk-behind" mowers are self-propelled, requiring a human only to walk behind and guide them. Larger lawn mowers are usually either self-propelled "walk-behind" types or, more often, are "ride-on" mowers that the operator can sit on and control. A robotic lawn mower is designed to operate either entirely on its own or less commonly by an operator on a remote control.
Cub Cadet is an American company that produces outdoor power equipment and services, including utility vehicles, handheld and chore products as well as snow throwers.
Poulan is a brand name of the Swedish manufacturer Husqvarna AB.
A snowplow is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to refer to vehicles mounting such devices, more accurately they are known as winter service vehicles, especially in areas that regularly receive large amounts of snow every year, or in specific environments such as airfields. In other cases, pickup trucks and front end loaders are outfitted with attachments to fulfill this purpose. Some regions that do not frequently see snow may use graders to remove compacted snow and ice off the streets. Snowplows can also be mounted on rail cars or locomotives to clear railway tracks.
Murray was an American company whose assets are now owned by Briggs & Stratton and Pon Holdings. The corporate brand is a descendant of the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company, which manufactured bicycles and lawn and garden equipment. The company went bankrupt in 2005 selling most of its assets to Briggs & Stratton and Pacific Cycle.
Ariens Company, stylized as AriensCo, is an American equipment company based in Wisconsin which has a long history manufacturing snow blowers, lawn tractors, and zero-turn lawn mowers for commercial and high-end consumer markets. Ariens touts itself as being the "mower of the White House lawn," "official snow blower of Lambeau Field," and the "King of Snow".
MTD Products is an American manufacturer of outdoor power equipment for the mass market. Headquartered in Valley City, Ohio, the company began in 1932 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stanley Black & Decker. Prior to Stanley Black & Decker's acquisition in December 2021, MTD Products was a majority family-owned, private company. It originated as a tool and die maker. MTD's main competitors are Stihl, Ariens, Briggs & Stratton, John Deere and Husqvarna.
Gravely, of Brillion, Wisconsin, is a manufacturer of powered lawn and garden implements which it describes as "walk-behind, zero turn and outfront mowers". It started as a manufacturer of "walk-behind" or two-wheel tractors.
Lawn-Boy is a brand of lawn mower, originally manufactured by the Evinrude Company in 1934 and owned since 1989 by Toro. It was the first one-handed reel power mower introduced to the American public. Evinrude purchased Johnson Motor Wheel Company from a New York stock brokerage firm a year later, and in 1936 they merged with the Outboard Marine and Manufacturing Company (OMC), continuing production of Lawn-Boy mowers until 1939, when it was temporarily put on hold to manufacture outboard motors for World War II.
Flymo is a hover lawnmower invented by Karl Dahlman in 1964, after seeing Sir Christopher Cockerell's hovercraft. "Flymo" is a brand name of the Swedish company Husqvarna AB, a part of Electrolux from 1978 to 2006. The mower is a variation of the petrol-powered rotary push lawn mower, but uses a fan above the mower's spinning blades to allow the mower's body to hover over the lawn. The mower is claimed to be more manoeuvrable and easier to push than wheeled petrol mowers, while delivering similar results.
The Husqvarna Group is a Swedish manufacturer of outdoor power products including robotic lawn mowers, chainsaws, trimmers, brushcutters, cultivators, and garden tractors. Founded as a firearms manufacturer in 1689, it is one of the oldest continuously running companies in the world. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, the group also produces consumer watering products under the brand Gardena, cutting equipment and diamond tools for the construction and stone industries.
Two-wheel tractor or walking tractor are generic terms understood in the US and in parts of Europe to represent a single-axle tractor, which is a tractor with one axle, self-powered and self-propelled, which can pull and power various farm implements such as a trailer, cultivator or harrow, a plough, or various seeders and harvesters. The operator usually walks behind it or rides the implement being towed. Similar terms are mistakenly applied to the household rotary tiller or power tiller; although these may be wheeled and/or self-propelled, they are not tailored for towing implements. A two-wheeled tractor specializes in pulling any of numerous types of implements, whereas rotary tillers specialize in soil tillage with their dedicated digging tools. This article concerns two-wheeled tractors as distinguished from such tillers.
Wheel Horse was a manufacturer of outdoor and garden power equipment, including lawn and garden tractors. The company's headquarters were in South Bend, Indiana, USA.
Snapper, Inc. was an American company, formerly based in McDonough, Georgia, that manufactured residential and professional lawn-care and snow-removal equipment. Snapper was known for their high-quality products, including rear-engine riding lawnmowers capable of standing on end for storage or repair, and for their invention of the first self-propelled rotary lawn mower.
Worx, is a line of lawn and garden equipment and power tools owned and distributed by the Positec Tool Corporation, a manufacturing company based in Suzhou, China, with North American headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. The brand is known primarily for its lawn and garden tools like trimmers, lawn mowers, and chainsaws. In North America, Worxproducts can be found at numerous major retailers including Lowe's, Walmart, The Home Depot, Canadian Tire, and Costco. The brand is also sold on other continents, such as in Europe.
Gilson Brothers Co. was a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of outdoor power equipment and recreational equipment. It operated independently between its inception in 1911 until acquisition by Lawn-Boy in 1988. The company was probably most well known for its garden tillers, snowblowers and garden tractors produced from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Cecil Elwood Pond was an American businessman, inventor, and entrepreneur. He was the founder of Wheel Horse Products Co. Inc and was the primary inventor of the modern American riding mower.
The GE Elec-Trak was the first commercially produced all-electric garden tractor, made mostly between 1969 and 1975 at GE's Outdoor Power Equipment Operation under Bruce R. Laumeister. The previous work of Laumeister at GE on the experimental Delta electric car that debuted in 1968 helped pave the way for the production of the Elec-Trak. Despite the limited production and availability of the electric tractors, many Elec-Traks are still in use today and have a cult following among tractor and electric vehicle enthusiasts. They are an archetypal or seminal design that has influenced all later electric tractors.
Jacobsen Manufacturing has produced lawn mowers and light-duty tractors in the United States from the early 1920s until around 2020. They were located in Racine, Wisconsin from 1921 to 2001, when they moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2017, Jacobsen moved from Charlotte to Augusta, Georgia. In 2020, it was announced they would relocate from Augusta, Georgia to their sister factory of Ransomes-Jacobsen in Ipswich, England, UK. They are currently owned by Textron since acquisition in 1975.
Oregon Tool, Inc. is an American company that manufactures saw chain and other equipment for the forestry, agriculture, and construction industries. Based in Portland, Oregon, Oregon Tool globally manufactures their products in ten different plants across five countries. Oregon Tool produces and markets saw chain, chain saw bars and sprockets, battery operated lawn and garden equipment, lawn mower blades, string trimmer line, concrete cutting saws and chain, and agricultural cutting equipment for OEMs, dealers, and end-user markets. Oregon Tool employs approximately 3,300 people across the world in 17 global locations.