The History of Riekes Equipment Company

History

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Riekes Equipment Company
Historical Perspective

1900

Samuel Riekes started his own business recycling bottles in a barn. The business grew fast and new bottles were added to his line. The Riekes family grew as the business grew and sons Max and Henry and son-in-law Mort Richards entered the company now known as S. Riekes and Sons.

1936

Times were hard and customers were few during the depression, and it took lots of work and creative thinking to survive. Mort started selling a sideline - that of two-wheel hand trucks, used to move cases of bottles around the customer's plant. Before long, it was four-wheel platform trucks, casters, and sticks of conveyor.

Vintage forklifts sit outside the old Riekes building on Cuming Street in Omaha.

1945	World War II had placed the equipment division on hold as just about all-hard goods went to the war effort. Certain essential items for the defense industry were enough to keep the company afloat. Robert E. Schaap joined S. Riekes and Sons, believing in his ability to sell the equipment he saw move materials that helped win the war. A new era was born with Materials Handling Equipment. MHE was vital to the growth of distribution in the USA and no longer would be sold as a sideline.
1946	Yale and Towne Manufacturing made electric industrial trucks, hoists, locks, and builders hardware. Through the war years, Riekes had sold several J35W948, Yale low lift pallet trucks. Mort Richards sold the first Yale electric lift truck in Nebraska to a metal working company in Lincoln, now long gone. It was an all-mechanical model whose design was 1930's vintage. Wartime technology brought with it the first electric hydraulic lift fork truck to the Yale line in 1948. The first using this "modern" design was sold by Bob Schaap to Cooper Feed Mills in Humboldt, Nebraska.
1950	With Bob traveling and selling and Mort running the business, Riekes entered it's growth period. The Omaha industrial base was still located in multi-story buildings which offered opportunities to provide conveyor, carts, bins, and shelving and established Riekes as the source for a broad range of MHE products, a reputation that has grown and remains today. Yale introduced a gas truck line to balance its electric offerings. It was very timely as Omaha had developed its first industrial park and issued in the era of one-story large buildings. Ceilings were raised in height and the "unit load" concept became the prevailing strategy. Pallets of product could be transported by forklifts and stacked three high, sometimes even in steel racking.
1959	S. Riekes' facility at 1402 Webster Street was becoming crowded. The container division needed its space so the equipment division was temporarily moved to 1934 North 20th Street, an old garage. A new home for all of S. Riekes and Sons was found at 2910 Cuming Street in 1959. By combining five separate storefronts and an adjacent warehouse, enough space was created for all divisions. It was time to separate the two divisions in name and management. The container division continued to use S. Riekes and Sons; the MHE division adopted the name Riekes Equipment Company. Bob Schaap became president of the new entity.
1962	Yale and Riekes continued their growth and change. Yale was purchased by Eaton, a significant supplier of their component parts. It allowed Yale to broaden their line and their national representation. Riekes expanded into Des Moines, IA and Lyle Seward, who had been representing Riekes in the area, became the manager. Max Riekes had always been far-sighted. He introduced data processing to the company and Riekes became the third computer owner in Omaha behind Mutual of Omaha and the Union Pacific. This philosophy of being on the leading edge remains a key part of Riekes Equipment to this day.
1973	The OPEC oil shortage increased everyone's focus on transportation. To reduce costs and take advantage of an open market, a new Riekes facility was opened in Sioux City, IA. A year later, the entire S. Riekes family of companies were sold to Alco Standard, a New York Stock Exchange holding company. Nothing operational changed as all management, facilities, and personnel remained in place. Other changes did occur. Yale introduced its first gas lift truck completely produced in Japan, the SY GLC product line, the first of a very successful product line. A branch in Lincoln, Nebraska was created. Riekes Equipment took over the entire facility on Cuming Street and the S. Riekes offices were moved to 18th & Leavenworth. The MHE industry enjoyed several years of prosperity.
1980	Interest rates had skyrocketed to 21% and created a choke point for capital goods spending. For three months Yale experienced negative bookings, more cancellations than orders. Yale built a new facility in Greenville, NC, shutting down the plant in Philadelphia. Bob Schaap was elected to Yale's Dealer Advisory Board and saw first-hand the plant closing and Eaton's decision to spin off Yale. North American Coal (NACCO) purchased Yale and told the new company to stand on it's own two feet. Yale quickly became lean and mean. This was not a good time for MHE distributors as four major competitors in Omaha either took Chapter 11 bankruptcy or closed down. Riekes Equipment remained profitable, marginally, through this period.

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