July 10 will mark the official centennial milestone for the Bloomington, Minn., manufacturer, but a yearlong series of events is planned. Many events will recognize Toro’s close ties with the growth of the golf industry, and special website and Facebook pages and Twitter links have been set up to allow users and fans to share their own special Toro stories.
On July 10, 2014, The Toro Company, Bloomington, Minn., will celebrate achieving 100 years in business. A yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary is planned, through a series of events that the company says will provide an opportunity to not only look back on notable achievements, but also to recognize the ingenuity and dedication of Toro employees and to thank channel partners and end-user customers around the world for their loyalty and trust in The Toro Company.
Toro Company is now a leading worldwide provider of innovative turf, landscape, rental and construction equipment, and irrigation and outdoor lighting solutions, with sales of more than $2 billion in fiscal 2013 and a global presence that extends to more than 90 countries.
Since 1914, the company has built a tradition of excellence around a number of strong brands to help customers care for golf courses, sports fields, public green spaces, commercial and residential properties and agricultural fields. Toro attributes its remarkable longevity to “the character of our people and channel partners, and their relentless commitment to serving our customers and building market leadership through innovation,” says Michael J. Hoffman, Toro’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“These same values that have been core throughout our first 100 years form the foundation for continued success into our next century,” Hoffman adds.
When Toro celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1939, the company’s first President and co-founder, John Samuel Clapper, noted that the loyal service of Toro’s employees and distributors was the customers’ guarantee of a high-quality product. “What was true 75 years ago when Mr. Clapper made his statement about Toro remains true today —the loyal service of our employees and channel partners is critical to our company’s success,” Hoffman says.
Toro’s success has been built on a legacy of understanding customer needs and developing innovative products and services to help them, as reflected by the more than 1,500 patents that Toro employees around the world have earned over the years.
Much of this innovation has been tied to the growth of the golf industry, and Toro’s anniversary celebration will recognize these highlights on the company’s timeline:
1918—Toro introduced its first product built specifically for golf, a power fairway roller based on a Bull tractor frame.
1919—Toro was approached by the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis to create a motorized fairway mower to replace horse-drawn equipment. Mounting five lawn mowers onto the front of a farm tractor, Toro created the motorized golf course equipment industry.
1922—Toro created the golf industry’s first national distributor network.
1923—Toro introduced the Sea Serpent fairway sprinkler system, to become the only company to offer a full line of both turf and irrigation equipment.
1928—Toro unveiled the industry’s first all-electric-powered walk greens mower.
1966—Toro introduced the Valve-In-Head Sprinkler, combining both the valve and sprinkler head as one, saving customers money and reducing installation and maintenance time.
1972—Toro introduced its first all-hydraulic greens mower, the Greensmaster®3.
1989—the revolutionary Hydroject™ 3000 was the only cultivation tool to deeply aerate compacted soils using high velocity water without impacting the turf’s surface.
2010—Toro’s eFlex® was the industry’s first lithium ion battery-powered walk greens mower.
For its anniversary year, Toro has set up a special website page, www.toro.com/1oo, where more can be learned about other Toro industry firsts, and users of Toro equipment and fans of the company can contribute their own Toro stories. Toro memories can also be shared on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thetorocompany using the hashtag #Toro100, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/toro.company.
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