Website: byrnegroup.com
Location: Mansfield, Ohio
County: Richland County
Lending Partner: Park National Bank
Loan Program: Ohio 166

Making Boring Great Since 1966

Some businesses start with a big idea and a business plan. Michael Byrne Manufacturing started in a garage in downtown Mansfield in 1966.

What Mike Byrne built from that garage has become something remarkable. Today, Michael Byrne Manufacturing is the longest continuous manufacturer of auger boring machines in the United States. The company designs and builds the equipment that utility contractors depend on to drill horizontally underground, installing water, sewer, gas, oil, and electric lines that power homes and businesses across the country.

Their product line spans auger boring machines, augers, cutting heads, industrial gearboxes, horizontal directional drilling tools, and custom fabrication and machining for large-scale material processing. They are also the only auger boring manufacturer that integrates its own extreme duty gearbox, purpose-built for the rigors of underground construction.

More than 50 years after that first garage, Michael Byrne Manufacturing remains a family-owned and women-owned business, now operating across a multi-building site on over 10 acres in rural Richland County. The business has grown steadily by doing one thing exceptionally well: building equipment rugged enough to handle the toughest jobs and backing it up with the kind of customer service that keeps contractors coming back.

Growing Demand, Growing Pains

Ohio’s infrastructure needs are expanding. Utility contractors across the state are doing more work, taking on bigger projects, and demanding reliable equipment that can keep up. For a manufacturer whose entire business is supplying that equipment, rising demand is good news. But it also creates a real operational challenge.

Michael Byrne Manufacturing needed more space. Their existing facility had served the business well, but it could not support the production capacity and operational efficiency the company needed to meet growing demand. A new warehouse and office space was not a want. It was a necessity.

The challenge was financing a construction project in a way that made financial sense for a family-owned manufacturer in rural Ohio.

How the Ohio 166 Made It Work

OSDC partnered with Park National Bank to secure an Ohio 166 loan to finance the construction of a new warehouse and office space at Michael Byrne Manufacturing’s Richland County facility.

The Ohio 166 loan is a state-backed financing program that helps Ohio businesses purchase real estate and equipment with a low fixed interest rate and favorable terms. For manufacturers and businesses creating or retaining jobs in Ohio, it is one of the most cost-effective financing tools available.

For Michael Byrne Manufacturing, the Ohio 166 gave them access to low-cost financing while investing in a building designed to be efficient and sustainable for the long term. The fixed rate locks in for the life of the loan, so there are no surprises and no adjustments as the business continues to grow.

Built to Last, Built for What’s Next

The new warehouse and office space gives Michael Byrne Manufacturing the room to operate more efficiently, increase production capacity, and continue meeting the demands of Ohio’s expanding infrastructure market.

It is also a statement about what this business has always believed: that if you build something right, it lasts. That philosophy applies to their equipment, and it applies to the way they have run this company for more than 60 years.

From a garage in Mansfield to the longest continuous manufacturer of auger boring machines in the United States, Michael Byrne Manufacturing is a story about what Ohio family businesses can build when they have the right support.