The Rust Automation & Controls team, photographed together in January 2026
Our story · 1976–2026

50 years in the making.

Rust Automation & Controls is a family-owned manufacturers' representative and distributor. For five decades we've matched the right valves, instrumentation, and automation to the plants, projects, and people across the Western U.S. and Alaska.

Much of what keeps everyday life running goes unseen.

Clean water from a tap. Reliable energy for homes and businesses. Food produced safely. Materials mined, processed, and delivered to build the world around us. Behind all of it are complex industrial systems that have to work reliably, every day.

Rust Automation & Controls exists to support those systems, and the people who depend on them. Across water and wastewater, energy, manufacturing, mining, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, and critical infrastructure, we help businesses stay in business: the right equipment, applied the right way, at the right time.

It's work done by the engineers who design these systems, the technicians who show up when it matters, and sales teams who listen before they recommend, people who take pride in the work and understand the responsibility that comes with it.

1976 · Trusted since

It started with one engineer and a handshake.

Dale Rust founded the company as Rust Instrumentation & Controls Co., working directly with customers, listening carefully, and delivering practical solutions built to last.

That mindset became the foundation. Fifty years on, it's still how we work.

A Rust Instrumentation & Controls Co. truck at a tank farm, 1976
“If it flows thru pipes chances are we can control it”Painted on the tailgate, 1976
Rust Automation & Controls 50th Anniversary, 1976 to 2026
Five decades of growth

Built on relationships. Proven through time.

1976
Where it all began

Engineer Dale Rust, a Kansas State graduate in mechanical engineering and business who'd spent a decade at a world-class industrial-control manufacturer in Iowa, moved his family from the Midwest to Utah and founded the company. The work was hands-on and personal: listen closely, solve the real problem, build something that lasts. Growth wasn't the goal. Trust was.

The first Rust Instrumentation & Controls Co. service truck, 1976
1980s
Building the foundation

As automation expanded and manufacturing modernized, Rust stayed grounded: a steady, reliable presence through change. Rather than chase trends, the company deepened partnerships and technical knowledge, laying the foundation for decades of growth.

A butterfly valve at the Rust Automation shipping and receiving door in the 1980s
1990s
Expanding capabilities

Connectivity and complexity arrived. Rust grew its instrumentation and process-control expertise, helping customers apply new technology in practical, real-world ways, evolving from a supplier of components into a trusted technical advisor.

Rust staff outside the West Jordan office in the 1990s
2000s
Technology accelerates

Digital and integrated systems became the norm and expectations rose fast. Rust embraced innovation, but always with purpose: new technology mattered only if it worked reliably in the field.

Rust technicians working in cleanroom gear in the 2000s
2010s
Growing from within

Rust invested in people, culture, and talent. As a family-owned business, multiple generations began working alongside long-tenured employees, sharing knowledge and responsibility, preserving the culture while letting new ideas take root.

A Rust field engineer on site in the 2010s
2020s
Looking forward

Decades of experience, modern tools, and expanded services, all guided by the same values. Rust partners only with manufacturers that meet its standards for quality, reliability, and long-term thinking, and stays focused on leaving the business stronger for the next generation.

Then and now

The whole company, thirty years apart.

Rust staff lined up outside the West Jordan office in the 1990s
The 1990s. West Jordan, Utah.
The Rust Automation & Controls team photographed together in January 2026
January 2026.
50
Years, 1976–2026
4
Offices, 3 states
12
States we cover
Family-owned & operated

Now led by the next generation.

Today Rust is proudly family-owned, led by Dale's sons, Grant and Paul Rust, who guide the business with the same long-term perspective and values it was built on.

Multiple generations work alongside long-tenured employees. The person who quoted your last project is likely the one who'll quote the next, and the manufacturers we represent trust us with their toughest applications because we've earned it one job at a time.

Grant Rust, President and CEO of Rust Automation & Controls
Grant Rust · President & CEO

Supporting the systems, the science, and the people. That's what makes everyday life possible.

50 years strong, and just getting started

Put 50 years to work on your next job.

Tell us what you're building or trying to fix. We'll bring the line, the product, and the answer.

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