| The White Drive Products (formerly White Hydraulics) story begins in the early 1960's in the town of Maryville, Missouri. Harvey White and his father, Hollis, Sr., were manufacturing agricultural implements as White Engineering, Inc. While subcontracting on a piece of equipment, Harvey saw an early installation of a new type of hydraulic gerotor motor. In Harvey’s words, “it almost, but not quite, worked”. He also had some ideas as to how to make a better motor. His brother Hollis, Jr., was a mechanical engineering student at the University of Missouri-Columbia at this time and the two developed and patented their motor. This patent also covered their invention as a power steering device.
White Engineering started manufacturing this device and Ross, Inc. of West Lafayette, Indiana, who manufactured mechanical power steering units and wanted to license the White technology, later contacted the firm. Soon the Maryville facility was rented to Ross to manufacture hydraulic motors and power steering units under license from White Engineering. The sign on the building was changed to Ross Division, TRW, when the giant corporation purchased the firm. Eventually, production was moved to West Lafayette, Indiana.
By the mid-1970's, the license agreements were expiring and TRW was not interested in the White brothers’ new product ideas. In 1977, Harvey and Hollis, Jr. incorporated White Hydraulics and began manufacturing their motors first in the basement of Hollis’s home, and then in a paint store in West Lafayette. The early team included both brothers’ wives as well as Hollis, Sr. Business grew and in the early 1980's, the firm sought to build a complete manufacturing facility. The combination of location and financing resulted in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
Ground was broken in August 1982 and production began in January 1983.
From 1983 to 1993 White Hydraulics went through some major changes to keep up with the hydraulic motor demand from its customers. The production area doubled. The assembly area expanded. And in 1993, White Hydraulics shipped its one-millionth motor and became the first U.S. gerotor motor manufacturer to become ISO-9002 certified.
In 1994, White Hydraulics again had to expand to be able to meet the ever-increasing product demand from the hydraulic industry. Then two years later, White Hydraulics shipped it’s two- millionth motor.
In October 1995, Harvey White retired and sold his shares of White Hydraulics, Inc. to Hollis White, Jr., making Hollis Jr. the sole owner of the company.
Completion of our latest company plant expansion came in 2000, with the addition of more office space as well as a world class testing facility. This state-of-the-art testing facility has allowed us to become deeply involved in helping our customers improve upon their existing production designs, as well as, continually improve our products to exceed customer expectations.
White Hydraulics introduces its “Double in Five” program in 2000 with its distribution team worldwide. This program with the help of our loyal distributors will double our production output in 2000 by the year 2005.
In 2000, White Hydraulics, Inc. establishes White Hydraulics GmbH in Ratingen, Germany to further perpetuate our global presence.
With the ever-increasing industrialization of China, White Hydraulics seizes the opportunity to penetrate the Asian market, and in 2004, White Hydraulics, Inc. establishes another sales office in Hong Kong to service Asia.
To further increase sales numbers in the booming Asian market, White Hydraulics, Inc. purchases land in Main Land China, and builds a sales and production facility in the Jiangsu province of China. This facility, now operational, supports the expansion of the company brand by manufacturing selected products for global distribution and providing service and support to manufacturers in the rapidly developing Asian economies.
Since the ground breaking in 1982 in Hopkinsville, KY, White Hydraulics has gone from 2 hydraulic gerotor motor series being offered to 10 hydraulic motor series, 2 hydraulic brake series, 6 motor/brake series, flow dividers, and hydraulic pumps. White Hydraulics has also added numerous add-ons and accessories that complement it’s already extensive product lines. White Hydraulics, in the near future will continue to expand it’s product line to include a new range of gerotor motors, gearboxes, and manifolds, to make White Hydraulics a Drive Products manufacturer and supplier.
January 1, 2006, White Hydraulics, Inc. changed its corporate name from White Hydraulics, Inc. to White Drive Products, Inc. The new name better reflects the company’s focus on providing a complete range of products tailored for mobile hydraulic drive applications. Products include a full range of low-speed high-torque motors, spring-applied pressure release brakes, brake release hand pumps, and closed-loop hydrostatic drive piston pumps. The company continues leading the industry with innovative products, superior customer service, technical application support, and maintaining the shortest lead-time in the industry.
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