We have been a pioneering force in the caster industry for 50+ years, making headlines for innovative solutions and unwavering commitment to quality business ethic, setting new standards and driving progress in mobility and industrial applications.
In preparation for the move, Algood installed more than 2,000 rack spaces; 70 T5 light fixtures; and laid hundreds of metres of wiring. “This is an indication of our incredible commitment to North American caster manufacturing and meeting the needs of our customers. We’re putting our money where our mouth is,” says Algood President Craig Guttmann.
You probably don’t give much thought to casters: the swivelling wheels that make your office chair roll and heavy equipment easy to move. At best you’d probably consider this a commodity item, a product left behind innovation, the sort of thing we don’t make in Canada anymore. But you’d be wrong. Tucked away in a gritty industrial street in northwest Toronto, Algood Casters is a surprisingly nimble manufacturer of an ever-growning line of casters for home, retail, and industrial use.
Algood designs, manufactures, imports, and distributes casters, wheels, and related products. The family-owned company has grown from a small tool & die operation to a global competitor in the caster industry, servicing customers throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia. Algood has been in its current 80,000 square foot facility on Fenmar Drive for over 40 years and now employs more than 70 people. It celebrates its 45th anniversary this month.
Max Guttmann was working so hard his sons would take him dinner once a week so they could see him. Eating and sleeping in his small plant, he put in seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. to build his fledgling company. That was in 1961, when the Czech-born tool-and-die maker set up shop in North York. His company, Algood Casters Ltd., now has sales of $5 million a year and employs 50 people.
Max Guttmann, who embodies the Canadian corporate dream, will face a major adjustment in giving up something he started from scratch. A destitute Holocaust survivor, he came to Canada, worked 100 hours a week to build Algood Casters, now a lucrative company, and then turned it over to his kids this year on the firm’s 25th anniversary. For Guttmann, it’s been a life of hope and hardship, of sacrifice and success.
