Toro Company

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.

History

Founding and early history

The Toro Company was established as the "Toro Motor Company" in 1914 to build tractor engines for The Bull Tractor Company. It built steam engines to support war efforts during World War I, and changed its name to Toro Manufacturing Company in 1920 when it began to refocus on manufacturing farm equipment. The company is credited with manufacturing the first mechanical golf course maintenance equipment with the creation of a fairway mower utilizing five lawn mowers mounted behind a Toro tractor. Toro began shipping golf course maintenance products worldwide by 1928, and released the first power mower for homeowners in 1935.

In the 1940s, Toro ceased production of commercial products to focus on manufacturing equipment for World War II. It also planned additional manufacturing space in anticipation of post-war production. In 1948, Toro acquired Whirlwind Corp. and introduced a bagging system to rotary mowers. It created its first snowblower in 1951, and in 1956 was the first lawn and garden manufacturer to advertise on television.

Toro purchased an irrigation equipment manufacturer in 1962 and entered the underground irrigation business.

1986 to present

In 1986, Toro acquired the Wheel Horse Products Division of American Motors Corporation (AMC). 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.

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. Toro discontinued its Wheel Horse models and retired the brand name in 2007. 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.

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.

Brands

The company's products are marketed under several brands:
*Toro – irrigation systems & supplies, professional and consumer mowers, compact utility equipment, snow blowers, and handheld trimmers and leaf blowers
*Toro Ag – agriculture professional microirrigation systems, such as driplines, driptapes and sprayers for professional agriculture applications
*Boss Snowplow – snow and ice removal
*Charles Machine Works – Includes the following brands
**Ditch Witch – Underground utility construction equipment
**Radius –
**American Augers –
**Subsite –
**Trencor –
**HammerHead –

* Dingo – compact heavy duty hydraulic equipment
*eXmark – commercial mowers
*Hayter (United Kingdom) – consumer and professional mowers.
* Intimidator Group – utility vehicles and lawn mowers
**Intimidator – 4x4 utility vehicles
**Spartan Mowers – Lawn mowers
**eNVy – Neighborhood Vehicles
*Irritrol Systems – irrigation systems for residential and commercial landscapes
* Lawn-Boy – consumer mowers
*Lawn Genie – consumer irrigation
*Perrot – Regnerbau Calw GmbH (South-Germany) and the subsidiary Perrot-Polska were taken over by The Toro Company/USA as of 01.01.2017.
*Unique Lighting – low voltage landscape lighting
*Ventrac - tractors for maintenance and lawning
*YardCare - a Toro-branded website of yard care tips from Toro experts

References

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Agricultural machinery manufacturers of the United States
Lawn mower manufacturers
Snow removal
Lawn and garden tractors
Irrigation in the United States
Manufacturing companies based in Minnesota
Companies based in Bloomington, Minnesota
Manufacturing companies established in 1914
1914 establishments in Minnesota
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Irrigation companies
Companies in the S&P 400