For five decades, ECHO has been a worldwide leader in the development and manufacturing of professional-grade, hand-held outdoor power equipment for both the commercial and homeowner markets. Today, the company sells its products in North America through eight distributors managing 6,600 independent dealers. An additional 24 Latin American distributors sell ECHO products through a variety of channels. ECHO products can be found in Home Depot stores in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The company prides itself on setting the industry standard with its dedication to new technology, quality products and its strong distribution infrastructure.
The Early Years
Originating in Northbrook, IL, on November 16, 1972, ECHO began servicing the outdoor power equipment industry with high-performance 2-cycle engines and handheld products manufactured by Kioritz Corporation of Japan. As a pioneer in the market, ECHO revolutionized the landscape industry by inventing the world's first backpack blower, the PB-9 in 1975 plus the world's first handheld blower, the PB-200 in 1978 and is credited with many other world firsts in outdoor power equipment solutions ever since.
Continued Growth
In 1984 ECHO Power Equipment Canada was created as a subsidiary and in 1985, ECHO Incorporated established its present-day Americas corporate headquarters in Lake Zurich, IL, a Chicago suburb. Also in 1985, the company completed construction of its first 100,000 square foot manufacturing facility. Since then, the company has steadily expanded in size, adding additional buildings, the ECHO campus now include more than 588,000 square feet. The majority of ECHO products are built in the United States from foreign and domestic parts and components. In 1994, ECHO began its relationship with Home Depot as a provider of professional-quality hand-held outdoor power equipment for the consumer homeowner market.
Leadership
Throughout its tenure, ECHO has worked hard to maintain a strong foothold in the industry, both with technological advancement and solid business operations. No stranger to product innovation, ECHO engineers have pioneered many ground-breaking products as a result of aggressive market research, engineering proficiency and recognition of customer needs. Within recent years, ECHO successfully evolved 2-stroke engine technology to meet the growing demands of the commercial market, while pioneering new efforts to meet both EPA emissions regulations and CARB standards. Today ECHO’s engine technology represents the very best in industry leadership - balancing high-quality performance with environmental demands in a 2-stroke engine.
ECHO is the largest subsidiary of the Yamabiko Corporation of Japan.
SUSTAINABILITY
ECHO prides itself in developing technology, relationships and processes that keep the environment green. Environmental awareness is a cornerstone of ECHO in North America and of our parent company Yamabiko in Japan and the rest of the world. It has been a mantra of our corporate philosophy for our entire existence of five decades. We have a long history of developing technology, relationships, and processes that keep the environment at the forefront.