Hamilton Caster remains strong after 105 years

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David Lippert said it was his grandparents that made Hamilton Caster the company it is today.

Esther Lippert was the daughter of Hamilton Caster founder John Weigel, and when Weigel attempted to sell the company following the Great Depression of the 1930s, it was Lippert and her husband Ralph that took over the company.

“We were ahead of our time in women executives,” David Lippert said of his grandmother, who served as the company’s second president from 1939-43. In 1943, Ralph Lippert left a marketing firm in Cincinnati and served as company president from 1943-76.

“It was my grandfather who really got us on solid financial footing,” said Lippert, who is the current president and fourth generation family member to run the company. “We were rock solid with no debt and we are still that way today.”

Hamilton Caster began in 1907 with production of shoe rack casters in Weigel’s garage. He then purchased the three-acre property at 1637 Dixie Highway in 1920 where the company still sits today.

In the late 1920s, the company moved into production of floor trucks and trailers and that is where the growth potential remains today, Lippert said.

“There was more of a dependence on local manufacturers to support the company in those days,” Lippert said. But now, we ship all over the country.

“This is an industry that doesn’t go out of style,” he continued. “Factories have to be able to move things around and we hope they always will.”

Another huge piece to the company’s success is the a quick-ship service call Pronto it provides. It is a service that provides for a certain group of products to be ordered and shipped within a 24- to 48-hour window, Lippert said.

“For our industry, it’s like a McDonald’s drive through window,” Lippert said. “We’re running 99 percent on time with our Pronto shipments. In our industry, that is untouched.

“After 44 years, we are still trying to get better and better,” he continued. “We’ve got to keep raising the bar.”