Introduced stand-alone 180° Pallet Inverter to the marketplace in 1983
In 1983, a gallon of gasoline cost $1.23. Ronald Reagan was the U.S. President, James Thompson was Governor of Illinois, and the average price of a home was $69,900 and lastly, Cherry’s Industrial Equipment company founder/entrepreneur Ron Cherry introduced a stand-alone 180° Pallet Inverter to the U.S. market. The inverter was a new type of material handling equipment with the ability to turn over entire pallet loads. With that, Cherry’s Industrial Equipment began the journey that would lead it to where it is today, 40 years later – a leading provider of warehousing solutions across a wide range of industries and serving customers across the globe engineering highly manufactured pallet handling and ergonomic equipment to assist the warehouse, dock, or line worker.
Cherry’s Industrial Equipment continues introducing a number of market innovations
Cherry’s continued to make its mark with many industry innovations. In 1985, Cherry’s Industrial Equipment became a select distributor of molded plastic pallets, introducing the concept of replacing wood pallets with plastic pallets in production areas for food companies. Four years later, the company designed and introduced the Load Inverter, built to reduce injuries among workers in printing operations. This product was followed by the development of Freezer Space Removal Equipment.
In 1994, working with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Cherry’s Industrial developed a machine to complete a damage-free transfer of finished goods from a standard-grade pallet to a rental pallet for use in the facility. Other innovative designs included developing Inline Systems for food manufacturing and warehouse operations and Pallet and Container Dispensers.
In keeping with its mission of worker safety and efficiency, Cherry’s Industrial product line has expanded to include pallet retrievers, tippers, and dispensers.
Change in ownership and new location
Initially located in Bensenville, IL, Cherry’s then expanded to Elk Grove Village and then finally to its current location in Roselle, IL, which has twice the space of its previous location.
In 2006, Bud Cherry retired and sold the company to long-time employees John Costello and David Novak. In 2014, John Costello bought out his partner’s interest and became the sole owner and CEO, at the same time expanding the Cherry’s team by hiring additional employees.
Cherry’s Industrial Equipment reaches a milestone
By 2017, Cherry’s had placed more than 3,000 machines worldwide and continued to produce new product lines with an eye toward the future.
Cherry’s joins Great Game of Business and adopts Open Book Management
In 2018, under John Costello’s leadership, Cherry’s put the power of open-book management into practice through the game GGOB, better known as “The Great Game of Business.” Open Book Management is a business philosophy of financial transparency to all employees. Cherry’s takes it a step further and tells the stories behind the numbers, sharing with everyone in the organization how the business works and giving employees a voice in how the company is run and a stake in the outcome. Mr. Costello has spoken of the importance of Open Book Management before a number of groups and recently served as a panelist at the Great Game of Business Conference™ in Kansas City, MO. Cherry’s Industrial Equipment was honored as a 2022 All-Star Company by The Great Game of Business®, which recognized its commitment to create a winning workplace culture and deliver industry-leading financial performance. And the company won Best Places to Work in IL in 2023, in a statewide competition promoted by the Daily Herald.
Celebrates anniversary with October 19 Open House
“We are very pleased to celebrate this important milestone,” Mr. Costello said. “I am very proud of our company’s culture and the people who make up our team. We are like family; we all work together and support each other. We are very grateful to our customers for entrusting us with their workplace solutions. We love our work and look forward to celebrating the anniversary at our upcoming event.”
He added, “We’re excited for the future. New technology allows us to remotely monitor the performance of the machines that we place in service at our clients’ locations. With this technology, the machines can communicate with us and their operators and tell us what they need in the way of maintenance, parts replacement, and repairs. This will revolutionize the way we support our clients through maintenance. We can only imagine what other innovations will take place in the next 40 years!”
About Cherry’s Industrial Equipment
