Toro (company)

The Toro Company
Public company
Traded as NYSE: TTC
S&P 400 Component
Industry Irrigation supplies,
landscape & turf maintenance products
Founded 1914
Headquarters Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S.
Key people
 Richard Olson, President and CEO, Michael J. Hoffman, Chairman of the Board
Products Professional and residential turf maintenance equipment and irrigation systems
Revenue Increase US$2.505 Billion (2017)[1]
Number of employees
 6,134 (full-time)[2]
Website www.toro.com

The Toro Company is an American manufacturer of turf maintenance equipment (lawn mowers), snow removal equipment (snow blowers) and water-saving irrigation system supplies for commercial and residential gardens, public parks, golf courses, sports fields, and agricultural fields. The company is based in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

History

Founded as the Toro Motor Company in 1914 to build tractor engines for The Bull Tractor Company,[3] Toro manufactures and sells turf and landscape maintenance equipment and precision irrigation systems for use by landscape contractors, golf course superintendents, sports fields and grounds managers, as well as individual consumers.

In the sixties, Toro became a serious force in the consumer mower business. In 1970, Toro's Chairman, David Lilly, and President, Al Conover, determined Toro was to become a full-line lawn and garden manufacturer. Consequently, they recognized the need to also become a force in snow equipment. However, a number of people, including the nominal head of Toro's R&D, said, "We are a mower company, and don't belong in snow". Nevertheless, a couple of relatively new engineers were assigned, working independently of the formal R&D group, to research and develop a new line of snow throwers. In its second year out, the resulting 3-unit line, received top ranking with Consumer Reports. Thus, Toro began its long term domination of the snow industry. Later on, an unusual snow thrower concept, prototyped as part of this same research program, was developed further and became Toro's "Power Curve". These same individuals went on to create a number of other original concepts, including Toro's "kicker" based mulching mower system, its riding mower bagging system, plus quite a number of other original concepts to facilitate Toro's path to a full-line lawn and garden manufacturer.

In 1986, Toro acquired the Wheel Horse Products Division of American Motors (AMC).[4][5][6] Wheel Horse manufactured a wide range of lawn and garden tractors, as well as riding lawn mowers. The division was spun off from AMC so that the automaker could maintain focus on vehicles.

Lawn and garden tractors were then marketed under the Toro, Wheel Horse, as well as the Toro Wheel Horse names. Acquisitions continued with the purchase of Lawn-Boy in 1989, James Hardie Irrigation in 1996, Exmark Manufacturing in 1997, Hayter in 2005, Rain Master Irrigation Systems, and Turf Guard Wireless Monitoring Technology in 2007, TYCROP Manufacturing turf equipment product line in 2009, and USPraxis in 2010.

In the 1990s, then CEO Kendrick Melrose changed the company's strategy, shifting its focus to "professional maintenance markets" (such as golf courses, sports fields, municipal parks, and commercial properties). The strategy yielded higher margins and offered more protection from the uncertainty of weather and economic conditions than the highly competitive residential market segments. In 2007, almost 70 percent of the company's sales came from professional markets, versus one-third in 1990.

On Dec 5, 2001, Toro adopted new accounting rules the Emerging Issues Task Force had issued and restated the prior periods. The adoption of these rules had no effect on operating earnings or net income.

In 2007, the low-end lawn and garden tractor product manufacturing was outsourced to MTD Products, to be sold at Home Depot stores.[7]

In 2014, the snowplow and snow removal equipment company Boss Products was purchased by Toro.[8]

Brands

The company's products are marketed under several brands:[9]

  • Toro — irrigation systems & supplies, professional and consumer mowers, compact utility equipment, snow blowers, and handheld trimmers and leaf blowers.[10]
  • eXmark — commercial mowers.[11]
  • Lawn-Boy — consumer mowers.[12]
  • Irritrol Systems — irrigation systems for residential and commercial landscapes.[13]
  • Lawn Genie — consumer irrigation.
  • Pope (Australia) — garden maintenance solutions.[14]
  • Hayter (United Kingdom) — consumer and professional mowers.[15]
  • Unique Lighting — low voltage landscape lighting.[16]
  • Boss Snowplow — snow and ice removal.

References

  1. ↑ https://thetorocompany.gcs-web.com/static-files/a36a7bc4-7cee-4af5-8c2f-562984bb2f60
  2. ↑ "The Toro Company (TTC) Number of Employees". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "The Toro Company History 1910-1919". Toro. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "Steve Wolfe to Retire as CFO of The Toro Company". Business Wire (Press release). 30 March 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  5. ↑ "Wheel Horse Lawn Tractor History". Tractor Data. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  6. ↑ "The Toro Company History 1980-1989". Toro. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  7. ↑ "New Line of Toro Lawn and Garden Tractors to Debut at Toro Dealers and The Home Depot" (Press release). Toro. 5 January 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "Boss Products to be Purchased by The Toro Company" (PDF) (Press release). Boss Products. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  9. ↑ "The Toro Company - Our brands". Toro. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Toro Company
  11. ↑ eXmark
  12. ↑ Lawn-Boy
  13. ↑ Irritrol
  14. ↑ Toro Australia − Pope
  15. ↑ Hayter
  16. ↑
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.