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www.landscapeirrigation.com August 2014 Landscape and Irrigation 33 port our customers depend on. Some of these distributorships are in their fourth generation with Toro. Taking care of employees Toro's focus on taking care of customers extends to its long history of taking care of employees. As Ken Melrose, Toro's eighth president, said, "We believe the single most important factor that influences our success as a company is the Toro employee." Several of Toro's presidents were known for walking the plant to talk with workers regularly. They knew their employees' names and their families. An interesting example of how Toro stood out in support of their employees is that during the Great Depression, while many companies simply let go of employees, The Toro Company opted to cut back hours instead of jobs to keep people earning paychecks. Even in those early years, company leaders knew and acted upon the belief that people were our greatest asset. Thanks to our customers for putting their trust in Toro Any company that lasts for a century must inevitably endure challenges, turning points and difficult economic times and learn from those experiences. The Toro Company has been able to overcome these trials and tribulations to achieve lasting success by focusing on, and not losing sight of, our core people and performance values and the true needs of our customers. As we celebrate our centennial, we're not only look- ing back but also forward at new ways to take care of our customers honestly, fairly and ethically in the years to come. That means both our valued channel partners, as well as end- user customers. For us, it's not just what we do, but how we do it that counts. At the end of the day, it is our foundational values that extend from Toro through our distributor partners that have helped our company weather the test of time. And of course, it is only proper that we conclude by expressing our sincere thanks to all of our end-user customers for putting their trust in Toro. Article provided by Toro. 1914: Toro is founded 1919: Toro revolutionized the turf maintenance industry by mounting five mowers to the front of a farm tractor. 1922: Toro changed the way the industry serves customers with the first national golf distributor network. 1928: Toro developed the first electric-powered walk greensmower. 1940: The 76-inch Professional revolutionized mowing with cutting units on each side, often referred to as "wings," that adjusted to undulations in the turf and could be raised and lowered when transporting. 1948: Toro designed safer rotary mowers for homeowners after market studies discovered that many homeowners were afraid to use them. 1952: Toro invested in turf maintenance and agronomic research with the addition of James "Doc" Watson, and opened the world's first research and development center specializing in turfgrass science. 1959: Toro made bagging possible for the first time with wind tunnel technology that harnessed the airflow beneath the rotary mower. 1964: Toro pioneered the use of plastics in golf irrigation with the first valve-in- head sprinkler. 1968: First electric key start residential mower. 1972: Toro incorporated the use of hydraulics with reel and rotary mowers. 1990: Recycler mowers made bagging a thing of the past with mulching capabilities. 1999: Personal Pace system was developed – a self-propelled system that adjusts to the operator's desired speed. 2010: Toro eFlex was the first greensmower to run on Lithium-Ion battery technology. 2013: Reelmaster 3550-D was developed; the lightest fairway mower on the market 2014 and beyond: Toro promises more innovations to come in the next century. Sidebar provided by Toro Timeline From the 1930s 1921 model with new, flexible frame LI