Posted Dec 11, 2025
Tucked away down a quiet driveway in the Creston neighborhood is an unassuming green building with a small loading dock. At first glance, it looks almost residential. But inside hides a two level production hub that has crafted stainless steel essentials for the past century. Inside, carts and dispensers are still welded, folded, and finished by hand, just as they were generations ago.
This is the home of Royce Rolls Ringer.
An Idea Gets Rolling
The story starts as so many entrepreneurial ventures do: with an inconvenience annoying enough to need fixing.
As Fred and Maria Royce were in the hospital for the birth of their son Chuck, a housekeeper cleaned noisily in the background. Each time she slid the mop bucket across the floor it let out a distracting rasp.
Current Royce Rolls Ringer owner Brad Anderson explains, “So he had the idea to put the bucket and wringer on wheels. That’s where the name comes from—it’s a rolling wringer.”
Fred took away the bucket and returned the next day with wheels attached to the bottom. The housekeeper was pleased. Seeing the problem easily fixed, he took his idea on the road. Whenever a customer hesitated, he left the prototype behind with a promise: “I’ll come back for it if you decide you don’t want it.” No one took him up on the offer. Everyone kept it.
And so started a 100-year legacy.
A Key Connection
In the post–World War II years, Fred’s son Chuck established strong relationships with the growing network of VA hospitals, eventually making the Veterans Administration one of Royce Rolls Ringer’s most enduring partners. “We’ve always had a very close relationship with the Veterans Administration,” Brad says.
Hometown Roots
Royce Rolls never strayed far from its birthplace. “The business started in a garage in the neighborhood here,” Brad explains. “It’s always been in Creston.”
The current factory sits on land the family has operated on since the 1940s or ’50s. “There was a factory here, it burned down sometime around then. We’re in the original part of the building. And actually, the family used to live here.”
The integration of home, business, and family spread further than their physical footprint. The Royce family was deeply integrated in the community from the very beginning.
As Brad puts it, “Chuck and Stella were part of the original crew of Grand Rapids families to work on the revitalization of downtown in the ’80s.” Deeply committed to the arts, their contributions helped shape St. Cecilia Music Center, Royce Auditorium, and the Grand Rapids Ballet.
The Raise of Stainless Steel
In the 1970s, the company made the pivotal decision to switch exclusively to stainless steel. The material was durable, sanitary, and nearly indestructible. “The stainless steel…just has so many qualities that are especially relevant in the healthcare space,” Brad notes.
The switch also supported sustainability goals: stainless steel is fully recyclable, and scrap from the factory is routinely reclaimed and reused. Over time, the company expanded its stainless offerings to include everything from toilet paper dispensers and storage to custom-built fixtures for specialized environments.
Today, the standard stainless steel housekeeping cart, especially the popular F36 model, remains the company’s top seller. Many customers have carts still in service after 30 or 40 years. As Brad puts it plainly: “Plastic carts just don’t last like metal carts do.”
A Sudden Leadership Transition
In 2020, Brad agreed to join the company for “six months” when he and his wife Hannah returned to Grand Rapids. His background in welding engineering brought immediate improvements. “There was a lot of low-hanging fruit,” he says. “I was able to make changes and make things easier.”
But in August 2023, everything changed when his father-in-law Charlie, who had been preparing for a long, gradual succession, passed away unexpectedly.
“All of a sudden I was running the company,” Brad recalls. “It was a very difficult time.”
What began as a short-term commitment quickly grew into something much larger.
With strong financial groundwork in place, Brad sought outside support to stabilize the business and himself. “I just immediately went to every Family Business Alliance event that I could,” he says. Joining a peer group and partnering with leadership coaches helped him navigate the storm. “The FBA was very, very important.”
He sums it up simply: “If you own a small business, you would be foolish to not join a community like the FBA. I don’t want to squander the reset the company was given. We have a legacy: and I want to protect it.”
Crafted By Generations
Under Brad’s stewardship, modernization has moved hand in hand with preserving the traditions that built the company. He has redesigned products, improved equipment reliability, upgraded processes, and invested in cross-training. But, the heart of Royce Rolls Ringer still lies in the people who craft each product by hand.
Generations of employees have shaped the company. Scott, a longtime welder, says “I’ve been here for 40 years. My dad worked down here for like 57 years. And my uncle worked here.”
Brad doesn’t hesitate to describe Scott’s impact: “He’s an absolute machine with his welding. He’s welded miles and miles of steel by hand.” That depth of experience is common on the factory floor, where many employees have decades of service and were trained by parents or uncles before them.
Walking the factory floor is walking through decades of evolution. There are relics of the past, like the original shear used to cut every sheet of steel, alongside major upgrades like modern TIG welders and stacks of laser-cut parts. Yet even with new equipment, the work remains hand-assembled, detail by detail.
Brad is equally committed to preserving the values that have carried Royce Rolls Ringer through a century: uncompromising customer service, loyal long-term employees, customization, domestic manufacturing, and durable, sustainable products.
A Legacy Forged in Steel
One hundred years after a noisy mop bucket inspired a new idea, Royce Rolls Ringer is still building tools that help keep hospitals, schools, parks, and communities clean and safe.
In stainless steel, and in spirit, Royce Rolls Ringer remains built to endure.
Learn more about Royce Rolls Ringer at RoyceRolls.net
Family Business Alliance strives to help family businesses with the tools, resources, and connections to help businesses succeed. Learn more about our resources including Leading Forward, Succeeding in Succession, and Forging Frameworks of Governance that help to advance family business in our community.
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