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Tracy History
The history of this company began many years ago in 1924, when Mr. Lawrence Tracy founded Tracy Time Clock in Grand Rapids, Michigan to sell and service time clocks. Three years later, Lee Waterman was brought on as a partner to help manage the extra business generated from becoming an authorized dealer for the Stromberg Time Corporation. For almost twenty years, the partners matched hard work and business savvy to create one of the larger time clock dealerships of that time. Unfortunately, in 1946 Lawrence Tracy was killed in an automobile accident, and with the business growing rapidly, Lee Waterman brought in his son Vernon as a partner. Vernon Waterman had joined Stromberg in Philadelphia in 1937 and was later in charge of the Stromberg service department in Milwaukee prior to his induction into the Armed Forces in 1943. In the 1960's Lee Waterman retired and Vernon, along with his wife Arleene, directed the business for many years. In 1973, the Watermans incorporated and the following year moved into a new 4000 square foot facility that was built specifically for their business needs. With exclusive dealership territories for Stromberg, Amano and Detex, the Watermans had a successful enterprise which grew to include over 3000 customers. In 1984, Vern Waterman became interested in selling the business and retiring. Through their long time accountant and friend, Jean Foster, they were introduced to Curtis Gano who had recently returned from working in the oil service business in Saudi Arabia. Gano was born and raised in Grand Rapids. Upon graduating with a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Michigan he accepted a job in the Middle East to work for Dowell Schlumberger in the oil service industry. After two years in the desert and a desire to return to his hometown, Gano and the Waterman's went into negotiations and both realized that there was a good fit. The Waterman's had overseen Tracy Time Clock's growth into one of the premier time clock distributors in the country. They were also on the leading edge of a new wave of automation that was entering the industry. Gano was quite intrigued by this trend towards automation, as he had been deeply involved in automated data collection for over four years, first at U of M and later at Dowell Schlumberger. Bringing his background and experience in computers and data collection to the time clock industry, Gano began converting the existing customers with mechanical time clocks to equipment that would automatically calculate worked and overtime hours. In 1986, the sale of the business was completed and Gano set about continuing the tradition of good service and industry leading products for which Tracy Time Clock was known. Tracy Time Clock quickly found success by combining the popular IBM PC, a computerized badge terminal from Star Computer and a software package called LMS (Labor Management Software). LMS was written by an employee at Star Computer by the name of Walter Chappell. Tracy Time Clock became the leading dealer of LMS and eventually purchased the rights to produce a royalty free version. In 1988, the name was changed to Tracy Time Systems to reflect the evolution from time clocks to automated time systems. In 1989, Star Computer was sold and Chappell left the company to start Chase Technologies. Tracy Time Systems and Chase Technologies worked closely together and co-developed one of the most technically progressive and user-friendly time and attendance applications available. Founded on a unique "data driven menu" (DDM) format, Tracy Time Systems was able to offer applications that were uniquely tailored to a particular client's needs. Among the many special features was the ability for the client to actually change their own menus, screens and menu options as well as add their own custom reports. This unique ability for Tracy Time Systems, or the client, to customize the software and easily maintain it through subsequent upgrades is an important feature that has stayed inherent in the product line from the initial DOS and Windows versions through the latest enterprise-level, Web-based edition. In 2004, Tracy Time Systems reached a milestone of 80 years in business and the name was shortened to Tracy, Inc., to symbolize the growth and expansion into new markets in addition to time and attendance. Each day, every employee strives to continue the tradition of innovation and excellence that was originally founded by Lawrence Tracy and Lee Waterman so many years ago. The company has been blessed with loyal and quality individuals, many who have been employed at Tracy for much of their working lives. It is due to their caring and hard work and the good fortune of so many excellent and quality customers that Tracy is proud of its past and very excited about the future. |
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