Birmingham Toledo - Scale Calibration, Maintenance and Repair Service Provider, ISO 17025 and ISO 9001: 2000

Here are some of the reasons why over 95% of our customers do business with us over and over...

The mission of the partnership of Birmingham Toledo with its customers is to:

Involve our entire staff in Quality Management and provide them with continual training;

Birmingham-Toledo and its subsidiaries and branch offices is a quality-minded ISO 9001:2000, ISO 17025 service and sales distributor of industrial and retail equipment including scales and weighing systems; cash registers, labelers, and food processing machines including wrappers, slicers, and grinders, etc. covering areas of Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas with offices in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Decatur, Alabama; and Memphis, Tennessee with 365-day-per-year 24-hour service. In Alabama, scales = Birmingham-Toledo.

Are you looking for an ISO certified calibration company? Not only are we ISO 17025 accredited for calibrations, but our Industrial Division management system is certified to ISO 9001:2000. Our 9001 scope includes service, repair, and calibration of measurement equipment, while our 17025 scope goes into great depth regarding calibration of all types of scales. Also, our partner company scopes include calibration of almost all types of measurement equipment.

While not requiring ISO certification, our Retail Food Division sells and services all types of food preparation equipment. We have recently focused much of our energy and technological know-how into the sale, installation, and service of cash register systems and credit/debit card reader equipment. There is no other company in Alabama offering the depth of equipment and services as that offered by Birmingham-Toledo and its subsidiaries and partners.

We are proud to be a Tier I Authorized Distributor for Mettler-Toledo, the largest weighing equipment manufacturer in the world. We are the sole Mettler-Toledo distributor for Central Alabama. In 1989, METTLER, a manufacturer of laboratory equipment, combined with TOLEDO Scale Corporation, the largest US manufacturer of industrial and retail scales. Toledo's founder, Henry Theobald, had launched an innovative store scale with an automatic weight and price display in 1901. TOLEDO became the leader in industrial and retail weighing, and maintained its leadership through continued innovation. The combination of these two industry leaders was the birth of METTLER TOLEDO.

Our comprehensive industrial solutions cover the full spectrum of manufacturing processes. Solutions range from receiving raw materials, in-line process control and end-of-line packaging control, to logistics and shipping. Increasingly, these solutions are fully integrated into the IT environment, helping to automate workflows.

In food retail, our offering for the management of fresh food ranges from receiving and prepackaging to in-store solutions for self-service departments, deli counters, and checkout terminals. METTLER TOLEDO retail food products can all be networked and collect data at the item level. Our software assists customers with pricing and inventory management, and also provides valuable information for merchandising decisions.

"We are not obligated to sell one more scale, but we
are morally bound to service the scales we have
already sold."

Toledo Scale began when Henry Theobald was fired from his job for seeking continuous improvement. The National Cash Register Company fired Theobald around 1900 for instituting changes in production that would decrease costs and improve the product. He decided to start his own business, and bought the DeVilbiss Computing Scale Company from Allen DeVilbiss Jr. of Toledo.

DeVilbiss had invented and patented a pendulum type scale that used actual weight as a counterbalance rather than spring tension. This scale was superior to anything on the market at that time, because springs change with temperature and wear. Gravity, of course, does not. Mr. Theobald coined the phrase, "No Springs, Honest Weight" as a slogan for his new company. During his reign, Toledo Scale boomed. Mr. Theobald was a man of amazing energy, ability, and imagination.

In 1912 Toledo Scale's innovation continued, as the company began producing a double pendulum scale that had an automatic indicating dial rather than a beam and poise. The new scale line was suitable for industrial use, and was a great success. With the invention of the double pendulum mechanism, and with the war years calling for shell loading scales, counting scales, and force measurement devices, the groundwork was laid for a specialized subsidiary, "Toledo Precision Devices," was founded in 1929.

A TOLEDO SCALE FROM THE TURN OF THE CENTURY STILL IN OPERATION ON POWELL AVENUE IN BIRMINGHAM

After the death of Henry Theobald in 1924, his son, Bob, took over the company for a while and did well with the business. In 1926 the era of Hubert D. Bennett began. Hugh Bennett was the son of George Bennett, general manager of Willys-Overland in Toledo. He served in the French army during World War I, worked for Willys-Overland, and was assistant sales vice president for Studebaker. Between 1926-1951, Bennett brought Toledo Scale to a new competitive level.

During this era engineers at Toledo Scale developed innovative designs and used new materials to create cutting edge scales. Plastic and aluminum were used to develop industrial scales, including the Printweigh. Additionally, in 1934 the Kitchenware Division of Toledo Scale was born, producing choppers, mixers, slicers, and grinders. The growth of Toledo Scale demanded the expansion of factories and office buildings. In 1939 Toledo Scale moved on to an 80-acre site on Telegraph Road in Toledo. By World War II the factory had expanded three times and increased its capacity by 50%.

By the middle of the 1940's, the winds of change were again blowing at Toledo Scale. The War was just about to end, and the stockholders wanted to see the company pursue more post-war research and production. Despite his many accomplishments at Toledo Scale, Hugh Bennett wanted to pursue further innovations in plastics. In 1946, Bennett retired and Harris McIntosh became the third president of Toledo Scale.

Mr. McIntosh believed that a nationwide network of independent distributors was the best way to provide quality, consistent sales and service to manufacturers in the post World War II era. In Birmingham, Alabama, a small company was founded in 1946 to serve the expanding iron and steel plants. The company became a distributor for Toledo Scale and was dubbed Birmingham Toledo, Inc.

Under Harris McIntosh, Toledo Scale introduced two of its most popular scales, the Printweigh 400 and the Verilux. At the same time, the 2000 series of Toledo Scales were considered the best industrial scales in the world. The scope of the company expanded further with the development of batching systems, digital readings, computer feed scales, and electronic pre-packaging scales. In addition, the company adapted the load cell measurement system, which resulted in the first innovation in truck and rail scales in over 100 years.

Printweigh 400 still in operation from 1959 on 1st Avenue South in Birmingham, Alabama

In 1968, Toledo Scale became a division of Reliance Electric of Cleveland. McIntosh became a member of Reliance's Board of Directors, and Bob Metzger replaced him as head of Toledo Scale.

During Metzger's tenure the company developed the Expressweigh system, primarily for use in beef packaging facilities. The Expressweigh was a high-speed, in-motion device for weighing and data recording. It was the precursor to today's Hi Speed system. Also under Metzger, the company purchased The Wrapping Machinery Company of Franksville, Wisconsin, maker of the "Superwrapper" line of automatic wrappers and labelers. This enabled Toledo Scale to develop a complete wrapping, weighing, and labeling system.

In the early 1970's Toledo brought the industry into the electronic age when it was the first to use the Intel microprocessor in its scales.

In 1971 Metzger suffered a serious injury and went on extended leave. Management passed to Tony DiVincenzo. During this time, the 8400 electronic candy scale came into production. This scale was unique for its ability to display price and weight information on both sides of the counter. Also, a new plant was built in Spartanburg, South Carolina, specifically dedicated to the manufacture of load cells. In 1975, Reliance announced that Toledo Scale's headquarters would be moved to Columbus, leaving only one small department physically located in Toledo. DiVincenzo retired soon thereafter.

Management changed frequently after DiVincenzo's retirement. The company pulled out of the food machine business. Reliance sold the Haughton Elevator Division, and in 1979 the Exxon Oil Company purchased Reliance. Exxon restructured the company once again, and many more changes in management were made. Reliance sold the Telegraph Road plant to Willis Day Properties, but rented a small part of the facility where it continued to make mechanical scales and parts for electronic scales.

In 1984, Reliance decided to close the Toledo, Ohio operations. On July 7, 1985, a fire completely destroyed the Telegraph Road plant. In 1986 Reliance became independent from Exxon through a leveraged buy-out, and in 1989 it sold the Toledo Scale Division to Ciba Geigy.

Ciba Geigy merged Toledo Scale with another of its companies, Mettler Instrumente AG, a manufacturer of laboratory balances. The merger vastly increased the global scope of the company, which, as a result, operated in 18 countries. In 1992, the name was officially changed to Mettler Toledo, Inc. Then, in 1996, Ciba-Geigy sold Mettler Toledo to AEA Investors. The name was changed once again to Mettler Toledo International, Inc. The company's new headquarters were located in Polaris, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. In 1997, AEA took the company public, and today its shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the symbol MTD.

As you can see through reading the above history, Mettler Toledo has always been THE INNOVATOR in the weighing world. First, around 1900, "No Springs, Honest Weight" became the catch-phrase for weighing innovation. Then, in the 1940's, the company adapted the electronic analog load cell for use on vehicle scales. Other scale manufacturers are still stuck there in the 1940's, using analog, electronic load cells.

In the early 1970's it was the first to use the Intel microprocessor in its scales. Now, Mettler Toledo has again changed the market with the introduction in the 1990's of their digital vehicle scale load cells. The analog to digital conversion is completed within the load cell! No other manufacturer has been able to fully copy the design yet, providing Mettler Toledo with a monopoly on the best weighing technology available today. It is of such quality that vehicle scales utilizing the technology come with the industry's best warranty. End-users have a full five-year guarantee against lightning, water, and just about anything imaginable. The next step in scale innovation is here! The newest version of the Mettler Toledo digital load cells is amazing! We're keeping it under wraps from our competitors for now, but call us. We would love to talk to you about it if you need a truck or rail scale.

Whatever the next innovation in weighing may be, you can bet that it will created by Mettler Toledo. It will be available to you through Birmingham-Toledo. Contact us. We have solutions to your problems.

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. It is known as "The Magic City" based upon the seemingly magic way in which it grew in the 1800's. This growth was spurred by the steel industry, and carries on today as the world leader in cast iron pipe. The Metro area has more industrial manufacturing than the remainder of the state combined.

The Metro Birmingham Area consists of Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Blount, and Walker counties. Together the 5 counties have a population of approximately 1,000,000. For many years, Birmingham was synonymous with the steel industry. The natural occurrence of coal, iron ore, and limestone in this area, as well as a motivated work force, created ideal conditions for steel production, and furnaces appeared as early as the 1850s. The city was the main supplier for Confederate troops' ammunition during the Civil War and continued to utilize its industry to grow wildly in the 1870s, when two railroads appeared, making it possible to transport the products of the many furnaces.

In the years following the Civil War, railroad men, land developers and speculators moved into Jones Valley to take advantage of the area's rich mineral resources. All the ingredients needed to make iron lay within a thirty-mile radius. Seams of iron ore stretched for 25 miles through Red Mountain, the southeastern boundary of Jones Valley. To the north and west abundant deposits of coal, limestone, dolomite, and clay underlay the valley. In 1871 southern entrepreneurs founded a new city called Birmingham and began the systematic use of its minerals.

One of these men was Colonel James Withers Sloss, a north Alabama merchant and railroad man. Colonel Sloss played an important role in the founding of the city by convincing the L&N Railroad to capitalize completion of the South and North rail line through Jones Valley, the site of the new town. In 1880, having helped form the Pratt Coke and Coal Company, which mined and sold Birmingham's first high-grade coking coal, he founded the Sloss Furnace Company.

Construction of Sloss's new furnace (The City Furnaces) began in June 1881, when ground was broken on a fifty-acre site that had been donated by the Elyton Land Company. Harry Hargreaves, a European-born engineer, was in charge of construction. Hargreaves had been a pupil of Thomas Whitwell, a British inventor who designed the stoves that would supply the hot-air blast for the new furnaces. Sixty feet high and eighteen feet in diameter, Sloss's new Whitwell stoves were the first of their type ever built in Birmingham and were comparable to similar equipment used in the North. Local observers were proud that much of the machinery used by Sloss's new furnaces would be of Southern manufacture. In April 1882, the furnaces went into use. After its first year of operations, the furnace had sold 24,000 tons of iron. At the 1883 Louisville Exposition, the company won a bronze medal for 'best pig iron.'

During the 1920's Birmingham was the focal point of the South. While Birmingham mayor J.M. Jones sought to aid industry, Atlanta elected a new mayor who had an idea to improve upon it. At that time Atlanta was a small city of 100,000; however, their new mayor believed that making Atlanta the focus of air travel in the South would build its industry to the point that it could rival Birmingham. Of course, mayor William Hartsfield was right, as the international airport in Atlanta which bears his name has allowed it to not only rival Birmingham, but to surpass it in industry and corporate business. The small town of Atlanta now boasts a population of over 500,000. Its Metro Area population is estimated at over 5,500,000.

In the late 1930's, though, Birmingham was still the king of the South, and World War II expanded the market for iron and steel and created even more jobs for Birmingham workers. By 1941 when the United States entered the war, nearly half the labor force was employed by the iron, steel, and mining industries; more than two-thirds of the industries' workers were African-American. A racially mixed group performed a variety of skilled and semi-skilled jobs. The races worked side by side in Birmingham, Alabama, regardless of the views of those outside of our beautiful state.

As Birmingham's population exploded in the late nineteenth century, industries such as Sloss Furnaces began building low-cost housing. Sloss constructed its first houses along 32nd Street North, next to the site itself. These were typical shotgun style structures, with two rooms set on foundation posts. Housing served two purposes: it attracted family men (primarily sharecroppers from rural southern areas), thus lowering the rate of absenteeism, and it made available a ready supply of labor in case of an emergency. There was a doctor's office and a commissary, which proved to be the focal point of life there.

The area provided a relatively cohesive community setting for workers and their families. This was a safe place where people had the same customs and shared the same concerns and problems. There were neighborhood gatherings....watermelon cuttings, barbecues, chittlin suppers, dancing, and baseball games. The company provided plots of land for flower and vegetable gardens, chickens, and even hogs. And with the Thomas Elementary School nearby, children had access to educational opportunities almost unheard of in the 1930s and 40s.

It was during this post World War II era that a small company was founded to serve the iron and steel plants through weighing. The company became a distributor for Toledo Scale and was dubbed Birmingham Toledo, Inc. Then, as now, the only way to know how much raw material was bought and used was to weigh it. Finished products were often weighed, as well, to check for quality and to be sure that transport vehicles would not be overloaded.

Today these quality and transportation needs have become much more prevalent as companies seek to provide the utmost quality without wasting precious raw materials. Additionally, transportation weights have become much more important thanks to highway safety legislation.

The 1960's saw racial upheaval across the nation as minorities saught full social and legal rights as enjoyed by others in the American society. From peaceful demonstrations to violent riots, change was afoot and would certainly occur. The problems were nationwide, yet the liberal New York media focused on the South in order to divert attention from its own problems. The cities primarily focused upon were in Alabama, as Northern "carpetbagger" media types descended upon Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma, Alabama. The problems seen there by the nation portrayed Alabama as much more racially biased than was the case. For this reason our pride in our history includes shame for our recent past. Unlike the northern areas of the nation, though, we have faced this past honestly and strive to conquer its ideas. Here in Birmingham you will find the nation's only city district devoted to the fight for civil rights for minorities. The centerpiece of the city's historic civil rights district is the state-of-the-art facility housing exhibits that depict historical events from post World War I racial separation to present day. More than just a museum, the institute promotes on-going research and discourse on human rights issues through it's archival and educational seminars.

By the 1960s and 1970s technological changes transformed Birmingham's industrial economy. The introduction of ductile iron and plastic pipe, combined with the foundry trade's increasing reliance on scrap iron, helped undermine the merchant pig iron industry. Stricter air pollution standards, competition from foreign imports, and mismanagement in the industry resulted in a general decline of the American iron and steel industry. Sloss too was affected by the industry's downturn. U.S. Pipe and Foundry, which had purchased the plant in 1952, was acquired by the Jim Walter Corporation in 1969. Less than two years later, Sloss Furnaces, the oldest remaining blast furnaces in Birmingham, were shut down. Today, many industries compete in this former steel town. The service industry exists side-by-side with medical and commercial industries.

The cast iron pipe presence in Birmingham remains formidable, though. American Cast Iron Pipe Company (Acipco) is annually ranked as one of the nation's best places to work! Additionally the US Pipe Corporate Office calls Birmingham home, and has two large plants in the Metro Area. McWane Pipe also has its corporate center here, as well as a large manufacturing plant and many smaller plants throughout the state and nation.

Over the course of the 20th century, the city's economy has diversified. Though the manufacturing industry maintains a strong presence in Birmingham, other industries have risen in stature such as banking, insurance, medicine, publishing, and biotechnology. Birmingham has been recognized as one of the top cities for income growth in the nation's South with a significant increase in per capita income since 1990.

Today, Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and is also one of the largest banking centers in the U.S. The Birmingham area serves as headquarters to one Fortune 500 company: Regions Financial. Five Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered in Birmingham.

Birmingham's economy was transformed by investments in bio-technology and medical research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and its adjacent hospital. The UAB Hospital is a Level I trauma center providing health care and breakthrough medical research. UAB is now the area's largest employer and the largest in Alabama with a workforce of about 20,000. Health care services provider HealthSouth is also headquartered in the city.

Birmingham is also a leading banking center, serving as home to two major banks: Regions Financial Corporation and Compass Bancshares. SouthTrust, another large bank headquartered in Birmingham, was acquired by Wachovia in 2004. The city still has major operations as one of the regional headquarters of Wachovia. In November 2006, Regions Financial merged with AmSouth Bancorporation, which was also headquartered in Birmingham. Nearly a dozen smaller banks are also headquartered in the Magic City, such as Superior Bank and New South Federal Savings Bank.

Telecommunications provider AT&T, formerly BellSouth, has a major presence with several large offices in the metropolitan area. Major insurance providers: Protective Life, Infinity Property & Casualty and ProAssurance among others, are headquartered in Birmingham and employ a large number of people in Greater Birmingham.

The city is a powerhouse of construction and engineering companies, including BE&K and B. L. Harbert International which routinely are included in the Engineering News-Record lists of top design and international construction firms. Birmingham also has a thriving dairy industry. Mayfield Dairy Farms has a large production facility in Birmingham.

Metropolitan Birmingham has consistently been rated as one of America's best places to work and earn a living based on the area's competitive salary rates and relatively low living expenses. One 2006 study published at Salary.com determined that Birmingham was second in the nation for building personal net worth, based on local salary rates, living expenses, and unemployment rates. A 2006 study by Bizjournals.com calculated Birmingham's "combined personal income" (the sum of all money earned by all residents of an area in a year) at $48.1 billion.

Birmingham is the cultural and entertainment capital of Alabama with its numerous art galleries in the area and home to the Birmingham Museum of Art, the largest art museum in the state. Birmingham is also home to the state's major ballet, opera, and symphony orchestra companies such the Alabama Ballet, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Ballet, Birmingham Concert Chorale, and Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival and Opera.

Birmingham was once home to the Black Barons, a very successful Negro League team. The home of the Black Barons, Rickwood Field, is still standing in the Rising-West Princeton neighborhood, and is verified as being the oldest baseball field in America. Birmingham is now home to the Birmingham Barons, the AA minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. The Barons played at Rickwood Field until Hoover Metropolitan Baseball Stadium, now Regions Park, was built in the late 1980's. Regions Park is also home to the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament, which drew more than 108,000 spectators in 2006.

Now, as Alabama becomes the new world leader in the automotive industry, we see OEM's such as Mercedes, Honda, and Hyundai in our state, as well as scores of supplier plants. This was the driver for Birmingham Toledo to attain ISO 17025 accreditation for calibration several years ago. The automotive industry requires this accreditation, and many of our other customers have found that this service enhances their program, as well. Birmingham Toledo now offers full calibration services to the automotive industry, as well as to all of our business family.