Freeman
Mfg. & Supply Company History
| Our
company was born in 1902 when Bill Freeman, owner of ÒFreeman
Pattern ShopÓ in Maumee, OH, began re-selling materials
to other patternshops out of his storage room. He did
so well with his side business that he moved to Toledo
and renamed his operation ÒFreeman Pattern SupplyÓ. |
 |
 |
In
the mid 1950Õs Gerald R. Rusk, a former warehouseman,
grew the company by acquiring a manufacturing division
and some smaller suppliers around the country. It was
during this time that Freeman became the operation we
recognize today. This string of nationwide distribution
centers would contribute greatly to the future success
of the company and establish the ÒFreemanÓ name as a major
supplier to our industries. The locations at that time
were Toledo, Newark, Chicago, Houston, Fort Worth, Milwaukee,
and Springfield (Mass). |
| In
1974, Gerald W. Rusk (Gerald R. RuskÕs son) took over
the business. He appointed Lou Turco as the President
of the company (formerly the Vice President of Finance)
in 1981. After moving the headquarters to Cleveland, OH
in 1984, some of the remote branch locations were relocated
and the organization further streamlined. The company
continued to broaden its line of product offerings and
solidified their reputation as a Òone-stop-shopÓ to the
pattern and tooling industries. |
 |
| Freeman
Mfg. & Supply Company moved to its current headquarters
in Avon, OH in 1998. The traditional line of pattern supplies
has evolved to incorporate a number of tooling plastics
and composite materials that are common to a host of other
industries and manufacturing processes beyond the traditional
pattern and foundry trades. Freeman is now a major supplier
to customers that do automotive and aircraft tooling,
modelmaking, rapid prototyping, vacuum forming, injection
molding, metal stamping, and a number of other industries
in addition to our traditional markets. |
|
|
We
now service our US customers with 8 domestic locations
and 30 authorized US distributors of our products. Worldwide,
we have 26 additional authorized international distributors
that we export products to on a regular basis. Our customers
continue to look for ways to produce functional tools,
prototypes, patterns, and models faster and cheaper
than they ever had before. As the products, industries,
and technologies continue to change, we will continue
to lead our competitors with the most shipping locations
and broadest product lines in our industry.
ÒÉit all starts here.Ó |
|
|
