From left, founder and president of TRC, Jerry Roueche and the first two employees: Sheila Roueche, office manager, and Gary Davenport, plant manager
The Roueche Company, a Chattanooga-based welding systems manufacturing company, is celebrating 25 years of business.
Siblings Joe Jr., John, Jim, Jeff, Joan, Jerry, Jay, and Jed, the eight children of Joe and JoAnn Roueche, set out into the working world in different directions, utilizing their gifts and diplomas. The journeys of five brothers and a couple of extended family ultimately converged to fill the roles needed to further the business vision of the sixth sibling, Jerry Roueche.
The process was set in motion in 1985 just after high school, when Jerry enlisted for a 4-year term in the U.S. Air Force. During this time, he excelled in the areas of electronic controls and learned various metal joining processes. After receiving an Honorable Discharge from the USAF, he pursued and completed a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree from UTC. After working in several technical and engineering roles with local businesses for a time after college, he decided – on his birthday - to establish and launch a business with a very astute name…The Roueche Company.
The company initially established itself by providing certain value-added technical services for metalworking companies. During that time, many of his clients expressed their need for alternative suppliers of resistance welding machinery that could offer a better range of machinery and service solutions. Given his knowledge of such equipment and metal joining processes, Jerry decided to incorporate the design and manufacture of resistance welding machinery and systems into the company offerings, and was able to transform a modest consulting business into a welding machine manufacturer with a full range of welding solutions.
Over the years and as manufacturing demands increased, manufacturing space and more employees were needed. One by one, the brothers: John, Jim (and wife Sheila), Jed, Matthew (nephew), and Jay came on board. Family, alongside multiple other key staff that has become like family, have formed the manufacturing group that has almost a century of combined engineering/build experience.
At the start of the business in 1999, the company began with a single 400 square foot office in downtown Chattanooga. As the number of customers and orders grew, TRC leased 11,000 square foot of manufacturing space on Dodson Avenue in East Chattanooga. Finally, in 2013, TRC purchased outright its present-day manufacturing facility at 1231 Latta St., near downtown Chattanooga.
TRC has since developed its own line of standard and custom welding systems, and also specializes in the complete remanufacture and upgrade of outdated welding machines to feature modern and more efficient components and tooling technologies.
TRC now has welding equipment and automation systems working in production facilities both nationally and internationally.
Being Veteran-owned, TRC takes great pride in the fact that its standard and custom machinery is designed and proudly built in the USA.
Company officials said, founded on Christian principles, TRC strives to honor God through ethical business practices, developing high-quality products for its customers, providing a pleasing and rewarding work environment for all staff, and directly assisting with various community outreach projects.