Club Car celebrates parent company's birthday

About 200 guests helped Club Car honor the 100th anniversary of its parent company, Ingersoll-Rand, on Oct. 25.

The celebration featured a 20,000-square-foot mobile history exhibit that took four days to assemble and featured photographs, detailed accounts and interactive displays chronicling the history of the climate control, construction, industrial, compact vehicle and security technology company.

"In an era when so many companies don't make it 100 weeks, Ingersoll-Rand has made it 100 years with so much distinction," said Phil Tralies, Club Car president and CEO.

Ingersoll-Rand was created in 1905 after the merger of the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Co. and the Rand Drill Co. The company employs more than 40,000 people worldwide and owns Schlage locks and security systems; Thermo King, a company that builds transport temperature control systems; Hussmann, a commercial refrigeration company; and Bobcat construction equipment, among others.

Ingersoll-Rand products were used in the sculpting of Mount Rushmore and the construction of Hoover Dam and were featured in the posters of Rosie the Riveter during World War II, according to entries in the exhibit.

Ingersoll-Rand bought Club Car in 1995.

The exhibit has been on tour since January and will stop at a total of 30 of the company's North American facilities, said Bill Bryant, a spokesman with Club Car.

State Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, presented Club Car with a resolution from Gov. Sonny Perdue, honoring the anniversary of Ingersoll-Rand.

"(We're looking forward) to continued growth, continued focus on innovation and globalization," Tralies said. "I think it is extremely important to us as we go forward.

"We started out as a domestic golf car company," he said. "We're way beyond golf now."

He added that his facility builds about 50 compact electric utility vehicles.