March 28, 2022
Kraft celebrates its 50th anniversary in business in 2022. Collaborative customer relationships, highly skilled employees, and relationships with world-class suppliers have helped Kraft achieve five decades of successful growth. Founded by Bob and Marie Kraft in the spring of 1972, Kraft was created to address the growing need for technically engineered drive systems and mobile […]
Kraft celebrates its 50th anniversary in business in 2022. Collaborative customer relationships, highly skilled employees, and relationships with world-class suppliers have helped Kraft achieve five decades of successful growth. Founded by Bob and Marie Kraft in the spring of 1972, Kraft was created to address the growing need for technically engineered drive systems and mobile hydraulic systems for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) off-highway machines.
“Marie and I believed that happy, trained employees would be the basis of developing satisfied customers. With hard work, perseverance, technical competence, and a little luck, we were able to set in motion a company that would offer the personal service and expertise that was desperately needed in the mobile equipment business in our area. As our employee partners and reputation grew, so did our opportunities. We were able to foster growth by making strategic hires and developing strong relationships with our suppliers, such as Danfoss.” says Bob Kraft, retired founder and CEO.
Contemplating retirement, in 1998 Bob and Marie Kraft added an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) as an employee benefit, and in 2000 Kraft became 100% employee owned.
Today, the company conducts business from its headquarters in Strongsville, OH, a suburb of Cleveland. With world- class suppliers, a very experienced engineering team, and highly technical territory managers, the company services hundreds of OEM specialty equipment manufacturers with mobile hydraulics, electronic controls, and electric drive systems.
Satisfying customers is the top priority at Kraft. The ownership mentality of Kraft’s employee-owners and their commitment to supporting their customers’ success is key to their many long-term customer relationships as well as providing the continued growth of the company. “The strong work ethic, technical expertise, and focus on customer service that Bob Kraft set in motion 50 years ago are still with us today. Over the years, we have continued to develop our technical expertise, strengthen our supplier relationships, and hire and train the best and brightest in our field. The combination of that and our commitment to customer success has been the secret to our growth. We look forward to the next 50 years of helping customers sell more machines,” says Scott Durand, president and CEO of Kraft.
