Keller purchases Missouri-based JIMCO

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Sees tremendous growth potential for manufacturing firm

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  • Shown here is some of the electronic test equipment manufactured by JIMCO, which is now owned by Ryder Keller of Aurora. Courtesy photo
    Shown here is some of the electronic test equipment manufactured by JIMCO, which is now owned by Ryder Keller of Aurora. Courtesy photo
  • Ryder Keller, right, purchased JIMCO, a manufacturing company based in Raymore, Mo., from Juan and Carolyn Grube effective May 1. Courtesy photo
    Ryder Keller, right, purchased JIMCO, a manufacturing company based in Raymore, Mo., from Juan and Carolyn Grube effective May 1. Courtesy photo
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Ryder Keller announced this week that he has expanded his business interests by purchasing JIMCO, a major manufacturer of test equipment, test leads and replacement wiring parts for the automotive aftermarket.

Keller is well known locally as the owner of Del Ray Manufacturing and Del Ray Voltage Systems, both located at 916 12th St. in Aurora. In that role he has worked for years with Juan and Carolyn Grube of Raymore, Mo., who approached him last fall about the possibility of purchasing JIMCO.

“We use the products and a JIMCO test bench, so I was excited about the prospect from the very start,” Keller recalled in an article published in ERA Exchange. “My initial thought was that I would load up the equipment and inventory and move it up to Nebraska, but after meeting the employees, seeing the scope of everything JIMCO does and the details and quality that goes into every product, I realized that I had to rethink that.”

As a manufacturer, JIMCO’s sales are primarily to automotive electrical rebuilders and to their suppliers. In addition to testing equipment, JIMCO makes custom wiring and brackets for converting old generators on antique cars and tractors into alternators. Keller noted that recent sales have expanded the clientele to include community colleges and military units, both in America and abroad.

“This is a huge step for me,” he said. “It has more potential than anything that I’ve been involved with in a long time.”

Reaching that potential, he admitted, will require updating the product line’s technology and competing on a global scale.

Keller has travelled to Raymore, located on the southern edge of Kansas City, every two or three weeks since the purchase closed on May 1, noting that he envisions all kinds of growth potential.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to take over such a well known, well respected company in our industry and will do everything is my power to maintain and build on the JIMCO legacy,” he said. “With the state of the world as it is through this pandemic, I feel that buying American is more important than ever to keep manufacturing in the USA.”

As of May 1, the company is now known as JIMCO Technology, LLC. The 6,000-sq. ft. warehouse and seven employees will remain in Missouri for now, though Keller hopes to eventually bring the operations to Aurora. “That will probably be a

“That will probably be a year or two down the road and we would need a bigger facility,” he said.

While bringing himself completely up to speed with his new company, with help from former owner Juan Grube in a consulting role, Keller said he is also working on technology-based partnerships to help JIMCO 2.0 reach its full potential. Keller, a native of Lincoln,

Keller, a native of Lincoln, attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and initially lived and worked in York. He purchased Del Ray Manufacturing and moved to Aurora in 1989, later establishing a location in Grand Island. Del Ray sells new and rebuilt alternators and starters, using JIMCO products to test them.

In addition, Keller owns Del Ray Voltage Systems, which sells and services industrial batteries and chargers for electric forklifts as well as telecommunications battery backup systems.

Keller and his wife, Lisa, have an 8-year-old daughter, Alexa.

‘This is a huge step for me. It has more potential than anything that I’ve been involved with in a long time.’

Ryder Keller, JIMCO Technology, LLC