Building the legacy – Marathon Equipment Company turns 40!
Press Release - Jan 02, 2007
2007 marks the 40th year of manufacturing equipment for the waste handling, recycling and scrap processing industries for Marathon Equipment. The milestone will be highlighted in advertisements and at trade shows through the theme "Building the Legacy." The theme focuses on Marathon’s achievements in four categories – performance, innovation, quality and service. It is Marathon’s record of excellence in these areas that created and continue to build its legacy as a leader in the waste handling industry.
Marathon began as a neighborly discussion over the back fence one evening in early 1966 between Lawson Acton, a refuse hauling contractor, and Jack Wright, car wash manufacturer. Acton was dissatisfied with the stationary compactors of the day because they were built like "battleships", with complicated electrical and hydraulic systems. Only the "wealthy few" could afford them, leaving out retailers, shopping malls and smaller industrial companies. Acton envisioned a compactor that utilized material better and more economically–priced within the reach of his waiting market. The combination of Acton’s idea and Wright’s manufacturing expertise resulted in the first RamJet® compactor.
It was a struggle for the fledgling company that began producing compactors in its first "factory", an abandoned service station in 1967. Both resistance from a "wait and see" market and competitive activity combined to make the first years in Birmingham, Alabama, very difficult.
In the four decades since, Marathon’s manufacturing facility has grown from an abandoned service station in Birmingham, Ala. to four plants in Vernon, Ala., Fayette, Ala., Yerington, Nev., and Clearfield, Pa., with a combined floor space of 421,000 sq. ft. Privately held for its first 23 years, Marathon was acquired in 1990 by Dover Industries, a diversified industrial manufacturing company and wholly–owned subsidiary of Dover Corporation which is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Marathon has grown exponentially in the area of product development since the acquisition. In addition to the RAMJET compactor and container product line, Marathon offers a full line of vertical, horizontal and two–ram balers, mobile shears and wire choppers through the NEXGEN brand. Most recently, Marathon introduced an environmentally friendly version of its RJ–250SC Self–Contained compactor the GreenBuilt™.