J. R. Merritt Controls, Inc.

J.R. Merritt Controls, Inc. was established in the mid 1980's as the North American licensee for Spohn & Burkhardt GmbH & Co., one of the first manufacturers of industrial switchgear and has been manufacturing products for industry, including joysticks, rotary switches and seating systems since the 1920's.

As the licensee for Spohn & Burkhardt GmbH & Co., J.R. Merritt Controls, Inc. gained its reputation early by offering a new breed of joysticks to the metals industry. By replacing the hard to operate high spring force joysticks being used in steel mills with rugged low spring force joysticks the acceptance of these operator friendly and durable joysticks into steel mills was overwhelming.

J.R. Merritt's product line soon grew to include seating and seating system solutions anchored by seats from Grammer Inc., one of the worldwide leaders in seating manufacturing, and seating systems from Spohn & Burkhardt GmbH & Co. The seating solutions were a perfect compliment to the joysticks and offered a complete turnkey solution to market. The system offered a large range of adjustment features to provide a custom fit for most operators. Today J.R. Merritt is still meeting the diverse challenges present in steel mills.

In the mid 1990's J.R. Merritt Controls, Inc. expanded the breadth of its product line into the Mobile Equipment market. The new range of cost effective joysticks was developed for high life and durability, based on the same design principles used in the Mill duty controllers. The PRO & CS series joysticks are successfully controlling machinery in the Mobile Equipment market.