It all started in 1982. The impetus behind the creation of MicroRidge was the frustration John Schuldt, our founder, felt when he worked in R&D for a large forest products company and a university. Both organizations had “analysis paralysis” when trying to solve problems.

John had years of programming experience and wanted his own company. He saw the need for a solution enabling QC people to identify significant opportunities within the manufacturing process. 

The guru for QC-SPC in lumber manufacturing was a professor at OSU and a long-time friend of John’s. Together, they developed the first lumber size control & monitoring software program. It took 9 months. Their first sale was to the large forest products company John used to work for. The forest products company commented: “It would have taken us years to put this together!” The key for John then and now was not to overanalyze when the customer needed a solution. 

“It would have taken us years to put this together!”

This experience carried over when John moved the company into general manufacturing. There were already software companies providing measurement analysis, so John focused on the hardware side of measurement collection. To John’s surprise, he found that some of the gage interface and gage manufacturers did not have “analysis paralysis”. Instead, it appeared that they effectively built the product before they designed it.

John’s approach continues today to design products that offer flexibility in terms of future enhancement. A problem is discussed with the customer, and a decision is made. MicroRidge today continues to put on its customer hat when developing or enhancing products. This results in quality products that solve customers’ problems are easy to use, and maintain.