Graco's History

Graco
A Company’s History Graco was founded in 1942 by Russell Gray and Robert Cone in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It began as Graco Metal Products and for 11 years it manufactured car parts and machinery. In 1953 Gray left the company and Robert Cone as its sole owner. Cone wanted his business to grow and thought about manufacturing his own line of products. But what would be manufacture? Then answer came from one of his own employees, an engineer named David Saint. He was already a father of nine, but had heard a friend mention how she and her husband used their backyard glider swing to calm their fussy baby. Saint immediately got to work in his idea. After eighteen months of work, Graco introduced the world’s first wind-up baby swing. A salesman predicted that the ‘Graco Swyngomatic’ would sell 10,000 models that year. It did not…instead Graco sold millions of this new invention! Its next product was the ‘Pack N’ Play.’ This portable playard appeared in 1987 and was designed by Nate Saint, son of David Saint. This product was also a huge success. Graco also designed the first travel system. For the first time parents could let their baby sleep and yet, carry him anywhere. It was plain to see that Graco wanted to manufacture products that made life easier for the parents. Today Graco is a Newell Rubbermaid company and is one of the leading manufacturers in baby products. It has a large variety of products that still continue to be successful today! Resources:
"The Story of Graco" Graco 2007.