The Hurco Story

In 1968, Gerald Roch and Edward Humston formed a company they called Hurco ("Hu" for Humston, "R" for Roch, and "CO" for Company ). Roch was the idea guy and Humston was the business guy...actually, Mr. Humston was Mr. Roch's boss as the owner of E.L. Humston Company where Mr. Roch was a sales representative for eight years. Mr. Roch grew up around his grandfather's tool and die shop where he discovered his passion for building things. After he graduated from Purdue University with an industrial engineering degree, he returned to his grandfather's shop (which was now owned by Mr. Roch's father and two other partners). Mr. Roch's fascination with simplifying processes, combined with the emergence of computers, would lead Mr. Roch to start Hurco. To a younger generation, Mr. Roch's foresight to realize that computer technology could be used to make manufacturing more efficient might not seem particularly revolutionary.

For historcial perspective, the computers of the 1960s were expensive; owned exclusively by institutions, such as government agencies, universities, and large corporations; and they were huge--one computer consumed an entire floor of a commercial building. Even though creating a computer to machine parts seemed far-fetched, Humston believed in Gerry Roch's vision and the two men set out to make computers work for the working man. People often talk about innovation, but rarely talk about the innovators. Mr. Roch is the epitome of a true innovator. He is curious. Asks questions and he never accepts the status quo. He has acquired more than 60 patents, due in large part to his fascination with efficiency combined with his background at the family tool and die shop, his collaborative personality, and his drive to solve problems. His patents for interactive control technology, which we refer to as conversational programming, are considered the most significant. Machine tool builders throughout the world had to obtain a license from Hurco to implement this technology into their products because Mr. Roch, Hurco co-founder, invented it. Despite all of his inventions and success, Mr. Roch remains extremely humble, saying, "I've never really been an expert in any one area. I know relatively little about software and electronics, but I've been fortunate enough that I conceptually understand how things should work. Then, it's a matter of hiring capable engineers to make it happen." The connection between technology and people is the core of our culture at Hurco. At the end of the day, machine tools aren't about iron, and technology isn't about software codes. They are about people...people like Gerald Roch and people like you, who work each day to identify ways to continually improve their processes, their business, and the parts they manufacture. True to our co-founder, Gerald Roch, we strive each day to develop technology and build machine tools that simplify work to make you and your business more successful.