Keeping You Spraying - The Graco Difference

Back in shop class in the 80’s, our instructor told us there was only one rule that we needed to follow when purchasing tools and equipment:  always look for those with Made In The USA inscribed on them. With this simple rule, it was almost a certainty that you were buying the best.

With today's global economy, the answer can become much more complicated. Often, it comes down to the philosophy and approach to manufacturing for each brand and sometimes, certain specific products within a brand.

In this article we will address the key elements that enable Graco to continue to produce the high quality equipment that our customers depend on everyday to get their jobs done right and more quickly than ever before. 

Since it’s founding in 1926, Graco has always manufactured its own products. Although Graco has branched out and grown globally, both organically and through acquisition, the value of producing our own products persists. 

We understand the advantages this provides for controlling our quality, cost, design and intellectual property. Staying true to this philosophy and continued investment in the latest machining & assembly technologies has allowed our Contractor Equipment Division to experience continuous growth over the past 60 years.

With our own internal automation and tooling services groups, we have taken our machining and assembly capabilities to the highest level to enable our work force to be the most productive in the world. Our highly skilled American factory workers work side by side with their robot counterparts. These sophisticated robots can accomplish simple tasks, like loading and unloading machines, or more complicated tasks such as building a complete pump. 

In order to ensure everything is correct before it’s packaged, each Graco sprayer runs through an extensive testing sequence, including performance testing. In many cases, sprayers are inspected at various checkpoints during their construction using vision systems, weight audits and bar code scans.

Periodically sprayers are pulled from stock and run in simulated real world conditions for many hours to ensure the product delivers on the high Graco durability standards. This is somewhat unique when it comes to equipment manufacturing and is a great representation of our commitment to a positive customer experience.

When it comes to our customers, we know that they don’t want to wait for any necessary parts and equipment when they are ready to get started on that next job or project. Through our enterprise resource planning software, we are able to forecast and stock products, accessories and service parts in anticipation of demand.

By constantly honing our manufacturing process and systems over the years, we have built flexibility into our manufacturing systems to help us be prepared for events we can't always anticipate or forecast. Recently, Graco has also invested in a new warehouse that features the latest in order picking technology to ensure the most efficient order processing possible.

Nobody else builds sprayers like Graco. It is for this reason that we stand behind every piece of equipment with the industry’s strongest warranty. Graco customers spray with the confidence in knowing that they will probably never need to use Graco’s warranty. But if they do, we will be there.

One of the many unique aspects our leading warranty includes is Lifetime Motor Warranty. Should the motor fail during normal use, we’ll replace it under warranty for the original owner for the life of the sprayer (Mark IV, Mark V and Mark X 240 Volt). In addition, our Lifetime Drivetrain Warranty will replace a failed drive train under normal use for the original owner for the life of the sprayer (Mark IV, Mark V, Mark X 240 Volt, 5900 HD and 7900 HD).

We offer 3-year warranty coverage against defects in materials and workmanship on the entire sprayer. If a part needed for a warranty repair is not in stock at your distributor,  our Downtime Eliminator Programme provides FREE next business day air freight delivery when distributor orders the part by 2 p.m. CST.  For your convenience, Graco offers more than 5,500 authorised distributor locations in North America and over 700 locations to administer warranty repair.

These key points hopefully provide some insight as to the effort, investment and commitment Graco makes to manufacture it’s products. Each of us involved in manufacturing quality Graco products is truly grateful for our loyal customers. We are committed and proud of what we accomplish in our manufacturing facilities in Rogers, MN and Sioux Falls, SD and we take pride in delivering exceptional quality every day, just like our customers.