Ramrod Equipment Celebrates 30 Years of Compact Equipment

Pop the corks and pull out the party favors, Ramrod Equipment (a division of Leons Mfg.) is celebrating three decades of designing and distributing innovative compact tool carriers. It was 30 years ago this June that Ramrod Equipment introduced its first “mini-skid steer” at a Farm Progress show in Western Canada. Ramrod used an innovative blend of skid steer and hydraulic technology to create a smaller machine that would offer labor-saving opportunities to contractors and landscapers everywhere.  

Today Ramrod’s stand-on, compact tool carriers (branded “mini-skid loaders” or simply “mini-skids”) are into their seventh generation, and according to John Malinowski, president of Ramrod Equipment, the future is constantly evolving. 

“There’s plenty more to come,” Malinowski said. “Our customers are continually finding new ways to use their Ramrods, and we’re working diligently to develop the tools they want to get the maximum effectiveness out of their mini-skids. Watch for exciting new Ramrod introductions in the future.”

The Ramrod mini-skid is credited with helping to lay the foundation of the newly formed compact tool carrier category, assigned by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). On a business trip through Australia in the late 1970s, Ray Malinowski met with an inventor that had developed a completely new style of skid steer. Smaller than any other skid steer, Malinowski immediately recognized the labor-saving applications of the design. In conjunction with the developer, Ray and Leon Malinowski entered into a licensing agreement for the North American manufacturing rights to the patented machine.  

Spending countless hours in the R&D Department of Leons Mfg. facility in Yorkton, the engineering team combined their knowledge of hydraulics, manufacturing and materials handling to update the mini-skid design to North American standards before introducing the Ramrod Model 230 in 1980 (the very first compact tool carrier to be introduced in North America).

Ramrod Equipment is led by the third generation of Malinowskis now, but their commitment to the versatility of the mini-skid design and to providing the best equipment possible to contractors and landscapers is no less than that of Ray and Leon three decades ago.