Helen Yost, President, The Rowland Company, stands next to a shovel manufactured by the company at least 200 years ago. Today, Rowland is a specialty distributor/fabricator of industrial power transmission components.
Throughout its storied history, The Rowland Company has learned to reinvent itself.
Founded in 1732, the 279-year-old company is the oldest business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and third oldest in the United States, which is a testament to management’s ability to adapt to the changing times.
Started as a manufacturer of shovels, spades, springs for wagon wheels and other implements of manual labor, Rowland is now a specialty distributor/fabricator of industrial power transmission components for large machinery. The company was founded by Benjamin Rowland, a descendant of John Rowland, who came to America with William Penn in 1682.
“Whether we (the current owners) or the Rowland family was involved, for 279 years this company has had to evolve,” says Helen Yost, President, The Rowland Company. “When the industrial revolution came along, the Rowland family had to change its focus. As businesses change what they do, there has been a need to shift our focus as well to meet the needs of a changing world.”
The Rowland Company was one of 11 companies recognized by the Department of Community and Economic Development and Team Pennsylvania Foundation last fall as part of its Century Business Recognition program. The program is designed to celebrate Pennsylvania companies that have been in business for at least 100 years.
Team PA President & CEO Matt Zieger said the Foundation launched this initiative to learn from companies that have an excellent pedigree – through both good and bad times.
“The owners of these companies share a unique perspective on what it takes to be successful and we have a great opportunity to learn from them and use that expertise to assist other companies – especially those we are working with as part of our high-growth initiative,” Zieger said.
The Rowland Company profile.
As the horse and buggy gave way to the combustible engine and the industrial revolution, Rowland revamped its business to become heavily involved in the distribution of automotive and heavy duty truck parts, Yost said.
In 1962, when Rowland was purchased by Gulf and Western Industries, that company moved the automotive division of Rowland over to King of Prussia and left the heavy duty truck part operation in Philadelphia. That division was subsequently sold in 1967 to its current owners, the Yost family.
“My dad was working for Gulf and Western and said, ‘if you are just going to let the truck parts division die, then I want to buy it from you’,” Yost said. “We built that division and over the years went into heavy industrial applications. We eventually got out of automobile and truck parts altogether and into the steel mill, paper mill, mining, power generation, rail and marine industries.”
Marketing themselves as “The Problem Solvers”, Rowland’s products can be found up and down the East Coast as well as on seven continents around the world. Much of the company’s business comes from overseas where electro-mechanical parts are still primarily used instead of hydraulic and electronic components that are found in more modernized countries like the United States.
“Am I a technical person? No.” Yost says, with a laugh. “I’m more management, numbers and creative ideas – like where can we go next with the company.”
Employee Ron Burney sandblasts a part for a customer.
Creative ideas are certainly needed as Rowland faces the challenge of meeting the needs of developing countries while simultaneously adapting – yet again – to keep up with the demands of a modernized and technology-driven business world.
“It is going to be a challenge with the old world way of manufacturing while other industries are starting to upgrade to hydraulics and electronics,” Yost said, “so we are segueing and getting more lines to deal with manufacturers who have more types of these (newer) products.”
In an effort to bolster its bottom line, Rowland’s management has concentrated on niche markets and has had success within the crane industry.
“We have found a nice niche with crane operators to repair their cranes,” Yost said. “We did a targeted mass marketing mailing about 1.5 years ago and had unbelievable success with it.”
As Yost looks to the future for the business her father, David W. Yost, Sr., helped rescue from becoming extinct, she sees the company undergoing even more changes to remain an integral “problem solver” for industry.
“I think we’ll see a lot of changes in the next five years and really see a lot of changes in the next 10 years,” Yost said. “I can’t imagine we wouldn’t be selling clutches and brakes to some extent, but it won’t be our major product line.”
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Fun fact: To put into perspective how long Rowland has been doing business, 1732 was the year George Washington was born, a 25-year-old Benjamin Franklin first penned Poor Richard’s Almanac and it would be another 44 years before the United States would gain its independence from British rule in 1776.
