Company History
Tom and Marj Ramsey founded Ramco Company on June 1, 1962.
During the first year of business, Ramco operated from within the walls of the Ramsey’s home on the west side of Des Moines, IA. As the business grew, more office and storage space was required, so the Ramseys found what would become Ramco’s location for several years in a nearby strip mall. During the early years, Tom handled the sales and engineering role, while Marj handled the business and accounting aspects of the company.
In 1967, the Ramseys purchased land in the West Des Moines Valley Junction area and built the original building, today’s main office, at 1207 Maple Street. As the original 8,000 sq/ft building was quickly outgrown, additions and future buildings sprung up, eventually creating the 21,000sq/ft. of office, shop and warehouse space that still stands today. Ramco has solution providers located throughout Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
From the beginning, the Ramsey’s vision was to be more than just another electrical supply distributor. As solid-state electronics increasingly became subcomponents of industrial products, replacing tubes and mechanical relays, Ramco aimed at selling and servicing the higher-tech products that were emerging throughout the 1960’s . Tom quickly built strong customer relationships with his charismatic personality and unique engineering and problem solving capabilities. As the Ramco team grew, Marj formed a foundation for the company based on professionalism and accountability.
In 1983, Ramco Company became incorporated and the name changed to Ramco Electric Company, Inc. This marked the beginning of the Ramsey’s vision that Ramco be an Employee-Owned Company – which is still in place today. As Ramco’s market, products and industries transformed with the times, the name eventually became Ramco Innovations, Inc. in 2002.
Since starting out as an electrical distributor 50 years ago, Ramco has experienced vast change and growth. Today, Ramco supports two distinct business units and employees throughout the midwest. Ramco continues to support and grow its industrial electrical component sales but has expanded to focus on high-tech niche business by utilizing our people, strengths and expertise to best serve our customers needs.
