Company History

Rankin Mfg., Inc. was originally founded by Charles McCullough as Mac Tool in 1962. The operation began as a small machine shop operation in his garage. The business continued to grow and Mr. McCullough continued to age at the same time. During all of this time, two grandsons had been in the machine shop learning how to operate the machining equipment from the time they were eight years old.

During the year of 1978, a decision was made to pass the business down a couple of generations. Mr. McCullough sold the business to his grandson, Michael Rankine, who had been working for him and learning how the business operated. Michael then renamed the business MIRF Machine Shop. However, Mr. McCullough continued to stay involved with the business.

In 1978, the other grandson, Eric Rankine, began working for another machine shop in New London, White Screw Products. Eric continued to work for them until 1987, at which time he had climbed through the ranks until becoming Plant Manager.

In 1987, Eric left White Screw Products and the two brothers combined their talents and formed an S-Corporation called Rankin Mfg., Inc. The company officers are Eric Rankine, President and Michael Rankine, Secretary/Treasurer.

Since the forming of the corporation, the company has expanded from the original plant. the first expansion added additional manufacturing and assembly space. This brought the plant up to a 3600 sq. foot machine shop. The second addition made to the plant was 750 sq. foot for Administrative services.

In mid 1989, it was determined that the type of work the company was receiving was larger than the present facilities could accommodate, so the wheels were put into motion to get the neccessary approvals from local and state officials to add an additional plant of 5,400 square foot. By the end of 1989 the project was begun and completed during the spring of 1990.

By mid-summer 1996 it was determined that the direction of Rankin Mfg., Inc. was going would require a larger facility with overhead cranes and more experienced personnel in both the shop and office areas. The focus for the future was going to be in the Structural Steel Fabrication and Erection with a smaller emphasis being placed in the area of Machining. Rankin Mfg., Inc. also produced Custom Trailers for the construction industry.

The original building was torn down to make way for a new 15,000 square foot manufacturing plant and 3,000 square foot of office space. While this building was under construction the business was growing at a rate even faster than they had planned, and by the time this building was complete, they had already outgrown it. The facility at 20 Cedar Street was completed in July of 1998.

As the year 1998 was coming to an end, a new opportunity to expand presented itself to Rankin Mfg., Inc. A three year old facility on the north edge of town was going to be vacated and for sale. The purchase of the facility was completed by October 1, 1998 with a move in date of January 1, 1999. The building sits on a 15 acre site located in the New London Industrial Park. It consists of 30,000 square feet of fabrication area and 5,000 square feet of office space.

Plant 1 at 201 N. Main St., has had other additions since it was purchased, with future additions projected. In the spring of 2000, a 1,700 square foot addition was completed. This was an addition of office space that allowed all of our personnel and blueprinting do be done in one location. In 2002, an additional 18,000 square foot addition was started in the plant. This project was completed in early 2003. This area now houses handrail fabrication tables, a paint area and shipping area. The original facility at 20 Cedar Street has since been leased out to other companies.

Stay tuned for updates on this and other additions.