Cardinal is at home in the small community of Webb City, Missouri, a city nestled on the edge of the Ozark mountains, with a population of just under 10,000. All around are wide, open prairies, hills and woods. Cardinal employees like it that way and are committed to keeping it that way. Cardinal's mission statement promises that they will adhere to sound environmental practices. They do that and then some. Cardinal's goal is to always be a step ahead in observing sound environmental rules.

From The Beginning... Exceptional Value

The evolution of what is today Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Company, involves the pulling together of a century's worth of ideas, products and people.

Cardinal Scale, with home offices in the heart of America, officially began in 1950. Founder William H. Perry of Webb City, Missouri, an experienced scale industry man, started the new company as a result of customer need for a line of special-capacity scales.

This need arose out of America's construction-era boom. In the development of the nation's highways, bridges and other structures, builder demand was at an all-time high for appropriate, new weighing systems. All concrete, stone and aspalt were batched and sold by weight; manufacture of the right weighing equipment called for someone with the right experience, resources and ability to respond. That individual was William H. Perry.

At the time, Perry was employed by the Webb Corporation, a Webb City manufacturer and distributor of heavy-duty industrial scales and mining machinery. He was authorized to start his own company for the production of the new, lighter capacity scales, which would then be marketed through Webb.

The new scale line proved to be so successful that Perry had to resign from Webb in 1956 and devote his full attention to his new and rapidly growing company. And so, Cardinal Scale was born. Cardinal's ability to respond to the specialized weighing needs of many other industries has enabled the company to expand its product line extensively over the years.

The First Acquisition

As a new scale manufacturing entity, Cardinal was in need of its own heavy-duty scale line. With this in mind, Perry began discussions with Sacramento, California's L.R. Murphy Company, a well-known west coast player in the large-capacity scale business. It was L.R. Murphy who pioneered all-steel, large scale design... a major revolution in the weighing industry.

Up until that time, all large-size scales had been laboriously constructed of cast iron in designs that could not easily have been changed. Nor could these scales be easily transported from their sites of manufacture on the east coast.

Steel was readily available to Murphy on the west coast as a result of the construction explosion that began there in the 1930's. He gained a competitive edge with its use, and it was this advantage that made sense as Perry and Murphy began talking about a partnership that could be mutually beneficial.. particularly in terms of product distribution.

In 1958 an agreement was reached, and the two companies began working together, marketing all-steel, welded motor truck and axle-load scales to all parts of the country. The companies were closely associated for 15 years, and then in 1973, Cardinal acquired Murphy Scale and completely integrated the operation, with full-service plants in Webb City, Sacramento and Denver.