Graco (fluid handling)

Infobox Company
name = Graco Inc.

type = Public(nyse|GGG)
genre =
foundation = 1926
founder = Russell Gray
location_city = Minneapolis
location_country = United States of America
location = (Northeast, Minneapolis)
locations =
area_served = Worldwide
key_people = Patrick J. McHale, President and CEO [ [http://www.graco.com/Internet/T_Corp.nsf/Webpages/Board_of_Directors Board_of_Directors ] ]
industry =
products = Fluid handling products
services =
revenue = $841.3 Million (2007) [http://www.graco.com/Internet/T_Financial.nsf/Files/graco8k4qtr07earnings/$file/graco8k4qtr07earnings.pdf 2007 K8 SEC report]
operating_income =
net_income =
assets =
equity =
owner =
num_employees = 2300 [ [http://www.graco.com/Internet/T_Corp.nsf/Webpages/Foundation2007?OpenDocument Foundation2007 ] ]
parent =
divisions =
subsid =
slogan =
homepage = [http://www.graco.com www.graco.com]
footnotes =
intl =

Graco is a manufacturer of fluid-handling systems and products based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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. Sales their first year of operation were $35,000. By 1941, annual sales had reached $1 million. They capitalized on opportunities in defense-based lubricating needs during World War II.

After the war, they 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.

Leil Gray dies in 1958, and was succeeded as president by Harry A. Murphy. He was succeeded in turn by David A Koch in 1962. 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.

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. By 1980, sales had climbed to $100 million. [http://www.graco.com/Internet/T_Corp.nsf/Webpages/History Official company history]

References