The Mill-Rose Co. celebrates 100 years of growth and innovation
Victor H. Miller founded The Mill-Rose Co. in 1919. Photo courtesy: The Mill-Rose Co.
The Mill-Rose Co., a manufacturer of twisted-wire brushes, is celebrating its 100th anniversary commemorating its rich history and hundreds of industries it has served. It all started in 1919 when Victor H. Miller accepted a contract from a Cleveland manufacturer to make percolator brushes, and from this modest beginning, The Mill-Rose Co. was to grow and become the leading manufacturer of brushes used in virtually every industry, including aerospace, agriculture, automotive, defense, energy, manufacturing, medical, technology and telecommunications, the company's press release noted.
While initial growth was slow, Mill-Rose expanded production significantly with the advent of World War II and by the end of the conflict had produced more than 35 million brushes. With diminished demand for gun-cleaning brushes during the post-war period, Mill-Rose transitioned to manufacture twisted wire brushes for other applications that were primarily industrial.
Since its inception, Mill-Rose focused on manufacturing brushes used in new and unique applications. More and more companies turned to Mill-Rose to manufacture custom-design brushes, which led the company into tremendous diversification.
Mill-Rose is uniquely suited to manufacture brushes as tiny as .014 in diameter. Customers can choose from thousands of standard and not-so-standard sizes and shapes of brushes that debur, polish, finish, sort, auger, conduct, dissipate, collect, move and protect materials. The brushes are often used in non-brushing applications to solve engineering, design and production problems. Mill-Rose has designed more than 100,000 special brushes with unique configurations for unique applications.
Strong demand for Mill-Rose brushes by the plumbing, heating and cooling industry led Mill-Rose to establish Clean-Fit Products, a fast-growing division serving professional contractors, hardware wholesalers and Do-It-Yourself home centers. Clean-Fit Products offers contractors a complete selection of brushes, abrasives, PTFE sealants and specialty tools, including Blue Monster professional-grade products. Clean-Fit Products has experienced explosive growth with its Blue Monster product line, demonstrating the need for high-quality brushes and accessories with a unique and trusted brand name.
In 1970, Mill-Rose established its Laboratories division to manufacture a complete line of disposable and reusable brushes, snares and baskets used throughout the medical industry. Mill-Rose is the leading source for laboratory and scientific brushes, biopsy and micro brushes and stainless steel wire forms used in a broad range of applications.
Today, Mill-Rose has manufacturing and warehouse facilities throughout the United States and Mexico. Production facilities in Mentor, Ohio and Mexico reflect the company’s commitment to investing in technology and automation.
“Some of our newer equipment allows us to produce and inspect up to 50 units per minute,” said Greg Miller, vice president — sales and marketing. “In many cases, advanced technology offers improved quality and pricing for our customers, however, we do manufacture many small-run, custom orders. Production is complemented by a U.S. distribution center featuring state-of-the-art inventory management to better serve customers around the world.
“It’s important that we, as a company, continue to do what has made us successful over the past 100 years,” Miller continued. “Our company-wide philosophy has always been ‘The customer is king.’ Embracing and working with customers has always led to success for The Mill-Rose Co. Many of those customers are the people who come to us with great ideas for future products, leading to added growth. Providing new products and opportunities keeps things fresh.”
Mill-Rose remains a family-owned organization, now in its fourth generation, and takes great pride in its history of serving satisfied customers.
Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!
