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Coming off a solid year with a high sales volume, a local company is looking to take its success one step further.
RT Machine Co. and RT Machine Service recently acquired Straitoplane, Inc. to complement its existing operations near Hughesville.
“The company was available to us,” Ron Boose, owner of RT Machine Co. and RT Machine Service, said.
Straitoplane, he said, provides RT Machine with more than $2 million in existing inventory to better position the company for servicing the woodworking machinery.
“We purchased the assets of two companies,” Boose said.
In addition to Straitoplane, RT Machine acquired Eagle Machinery Repair, Inc., a pair of Michigan-based parts distribution companies.
Boose’s company employs about 30 people, including a sales staff, service personnel and warehouse workers.
Along with his son, Erik, 32, Boose recently led a tour of the sprawling company facility in Wolf Township.
An 80,000-square-foot warehouse houses dozens of different woodworking machines that are shipped there every week.
Among the woodworking pieces are molders, wide belt sanders, CNC routers, Straitoplanes and much more.
Customers are across the U.S. and overseas.
“I don’t know anyplace else that does what we do on the scale we do,” Erik said.
His father said, “We have a very large presence in the industry.”
The acquisition of Straitoplane, Erik noted, allowed their company to “diversify a bit.”
Operations and inventory of Straitoplane relocated from its former site in Michigan to Hughesville and a new e-commerce site was developed to showcase inventory, making it convenient for customer purchases of replacement parts.
The company has come a long way.
Ron recalled starting the business out of his basement after working in the woodworking industry.
Back in those fledgling days of the company, he thought of himself as salesman who suddenly became a business owner.
"When I started RT Machine I bought and sold machines,” he said. “We didn’t have any service techs.”
Over the years, the company grew.
Last year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, RT Machine took a giant leap.
“During the pandemic there was a call for more used equipment,” Ron said. “This past year was phenomenal for us. This year, we are starting out about the same.”
A big reason for the robust sales, he said, is the boom in the housing industry.
Lumber companies, furniture makers, and kitchen and cabinet related businesses are all tied to his company.
He sees no reason why his company can’t continue to grow.
“We don’t want to stay stagnant,” he said.
Before Derek Krehling, vice president of RT Machine Service and Straitoplane Machine, Inc., started full time at RT Machine Co., there was no service department.
He worked with Ron and Erik and decided that a service sector would benefit the company and RT Machine Service came about.
At the time he was the only service technician on board and, alongside Ron and Eric, grew RT Machine Service to what it would become.
Erik said he and his father work well together.
Ron, for his part, likes the idea of his son being involved in the business.
“He started out sweeping floors,” Ron said.
Erik said he can’t imagine doing anything else but being involved in the family business.
“I worked in a bakery once. I didn’t like it,” he said.
Father and son agreed it’s a competitive and challenging business.
“It’s definitely competitive,” Erik said. “There are more competitors all the time.”
Ron said his company has developed a real niche servicing old machinery.