For immediate release – March 15, 2012

Riten appoints new Western Region Sales Manager

For immediate release – February 21, 2012

Q&A with Tom Downs – Director of Sales and Marketing, Riten Industries, Inc. with Gear Solutions Magazine

Gear Solutions: Congratulations on your recent promotion. Tell us a little about your background.

Tom Downs: Thank you. It’s a real honor that our president, Andy Lachat, has this much confidence in me, and I’m excited about the plans we’ve made so far. It’s funny that you ask about my background, because I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. I’ve worked in so many areas of this industry that I don’t think I could’ve prepared myself better for this position if I’d tried. Just to give you an idea, I started working on the shop floor as a tool and die maker at Continental Can more than 30 years ago, where I eventually moved up into management. Then I spent three years at Valenite and seven with Carboloy before moving to Florida as their representative. I actually resigned my job with Carboloy in order to become their manufacturers’ rep, and at the same time I began representing Circle Machine. I took a little sidetrack when one of my distributors talked me into joining his company, which ran its course in about a year and a half. Then Circle Machine hired me as their regional sales manager and I spent 19 years with them, eventually being named national sales manager. When they were acquired by Kennametal I stayed on for several years in various sales management positions before being “downsized,” as they used to call it. So I’ve worked on the shop floor, as a field rep, in corporate management positions, in distribution, and as a small business owner. Those experiences provided me with a firsthand understanding of just about anything or anyone I might encounter in my current position.

For immediate release – January 18, 2012

Riten’s longest-serving employee calls it a career

It is increasingly rare for a person to stay with an employer for more than 10 years. On January 18, T. J. Detty retired from Riten Industries after 43 years of service.

“I started in July of 1969″, he recalls,”when the company was located just up the road in Bloomingburg, Ohio. We had seven employees, a few manually operated machines, and one product – the little Super Accurate live center. I was a laborer, maintenance man, machine operator and housekeeper. We all did pretty much everything.”

Today, Riten is a second generation family-owned business with about 50 employees, more than 2,200 standard workholding products, innumerable “customer specials”, a highly computerized shop floor, and worldwide sales in excess of $10 million.

A Washington Court House native, Detty vividly remembers when the company was moved here from Bloomingburg. “We couldn’t have picked a worse time. It was right in the middle of the 1978 blizzard!”

Detty has always taken pride in his work, and in his employer. “It’s a great company”, he says, citing a couple of examples. “There was a big recession in 1972, and we knew that a few people had to be laid off. Most companies would have kept the senior workers and let the less experienced ones go. But Riten felt that the older fellows could better afford a brief layoff, so the younger ones, including me, kept our jobs. Six months later, the laid off people were recalled.

“And later, when I had my heart attack, the Riten people gave me great support, in the hospital and then at home. When I got back to work, they were always anxious that I not overdo anything. I really felt pampered, and I’ll never forget their concern for me and their friendship.”

His plans for retirement? “Tend my little orchard, do some more wood-working, do a lot more reading, and maybe some travel. There’s a lot of America I haven’t seen yet.”

www.riten.com

For immediate release – December 7, 2011

Downs promoted at Riten

For immediate release – July 1, 2011

New England Tooling now represents Riten in the North-East

New England Tooling, LLC, a manufacturers rep agency established in 2009, is the exclusive representative for OEM and distribution sales of Riten workholding products in the the six-state New England region.

The agency currently represents several prominent manufacturers of cutting tools, workholding, fixturing and gaging products, and includes four outside technical specialists with over 100 years experience in the metalworking industry, one of the largest technical support staffs in the region. The agency is headed by Jeff Springer, who worked his way up through manufacturing as a machinist, CNC programmer, and Manufacturing Engineer before specializing in the tooling industry for the last 16 years. He and his staff have extensive knowledge of current and emerging CNC machining technology.

The agency can be contacted as follows:

New England Tooling, LLC
4 Crestview Drive
South Portland, ME 04106
jeffspringer@NewEnglandTooling.com
www.NewEnglandTooling.com

New England Tooling’s Jeff Springer (at left) and technical staff in the agency’s booth at EASTEC 2011.

Partners in THINC Welcomes Riten Industries as New Partner

Charlotte, NC (January 5, 2011) –Okuma America Corporation is pleased to announce that Riten Industries, the world’s largest manufacturer of Live and Dead Centers and Face Drivers, has joined Partners in THINC.

Tom Downs, Regional Sales Manager, stated “We are excited to join the Partners in THINC team and are looking forward to helping manufacturers and improving and complementing the capabilities of the Okuma machine tools.”

In addition to a standard product offering, Riten can design and manufacture a variety of custom workholding products. Their dedicated repair department specializes in repairing both Riten and competitor live and dead centers, in addition to repairing tailstock and head stock assemblies.

Riten Industries products can be seen at the Partners in THINC facility in Charlotte, NC or at the Okuma Tech Centers in Chicago and Houston.  For more information or to schedule a visit, go to www.partnersinthinc.com.

About Okuma America Corporation:

Okuma America Corporation is the US based affiliate of Okuma Corporation, a world leader in the development of computer numeric controls (CNC) and machining technology, founded in 1898 in Nagoya, Japan.  Known for its technology leadership and world-class manufacturing, product quality and dedication to customer service, Okuma strives to be the machine tool solution provider to manufacturers worldwide.  For more information, visit www.okuma.com/home.html.

About Partners in THINC:

Partners in THINC is a unique facility and concept offering integrated solutions and a one-stop-shop designed to streamline current manufacturing processes, improve capabilities, or for exploring advanced manufacturing options. Each member of Partners in THINC brings specialized equipment, expertise and a commitment to provide the best possible integrated solutions to the end-user.  For more information, visit www.partnersinthinc.com.

About Riten Industries:

Riten Industries has been in business since 1933, and manufactures all products in the United States in a 35,000 square foot facility in Central Ohio.  Boasting the industry’s broadest line of standard products, Riten can also design custom specials to meet a customer’s unique needs.  For more information, visit www.riten.com.