please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message hoveround corporation hoveround corporate offices type private industry power wheelchair manufacturer in the durable medical equipment and home medical equipment industry founded 1992 founder thomas e kruse headquarters sarasota florida u.s.a. products power chairs mobility scooters patient lifts personal vehicle ramps mobility accessories revenue 100 million 2005 website www.hoveround.com hoveround is an american corporation that manufactures and distributes the hoveround brand of power wheelchairs also known as motorized wheelchairs and sells scooters lifts ramps and power chair accessories . the company founded in 1992 by former nurse and inventor tom kruse is based in sarasota florida . its battery operated products are primarily designed to assist mobility challenged individuals in getting around inside their homes and to facilitate mobility related activities of daily living mradls . hoveround sold directly to consumers . hoveround relied primarily on television mail and their website for sales efforts . in 2012 the company had celebrated its 20th anniversary and employed more than 500 employees . in early 2014 hoveround laid off 20 or more workers at its sarasota county headquarters offices . the worker reduction brought the total number of employees in the region within a range of only 290 to 295 . 1 according to spokespeople competitive bidding at medicare and the need for the company to trim payroll prompted the lay offs of staffers from throughout the organization . contents 1 background 2 manufacturing 3 products 4 notes 5 references 6 external links background edit inventor thomas kruse along with his brothers george and robert founded hoveround corporation in april 1992 . built to increase the mobility of wheelchair bound individuals the hoveround prototype maximized ease of operation comfort and durability . the name hoveround is the brainchild of tom kruse . he blended the word hover based on the hovering look of the wheelchair with the beach boys song i get around . kruse had been listening to the song on the radio while driving to a power chair promotional event and came up with the hoveround name . on june 28 1994 hoveround began selling its power wheelchairs direct to the customer . within 90 days hoveround was profitable . hoveround achieved fda certification as a registered manufacturer in 1994 followed by iso 9001 certification in 1997 . in 1998 private holding company jordan industries purchased an 80 % stake in hoveround . the remaining stock remained with kruse and his brothers . manufacturing edit hoveround custom assembles all of its power chairs at the company s manufacturing facilities in southwest florida . products edit hoveround sells power wheelchairs motorized scooters personal lifts ramps and various power wheelchair accessories . notes edit sarasota s hoveround lays off 20 sarasota herald tribune http www.heraldtribune.com article 20140115 article 301159995 gsc.tab 0 references edit steering to high ground external links edit hoveround power wheelchairs retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title hoveround & oldid 730807635 categories companies established in 1992wheelchair manufacturershidden categories articles needing additional references from june 2013all articles needing additional referencespages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 21 july 2016 at 07 12 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view