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 engineers who design with care, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Decades of experience, modern tools, and expanded services — 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.
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 rep 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.
Supporting the systems, the science, and the people. That's what makes everyday life possible.
Tell us what you're building or trying to fix. We'll bring the line, the product, and the answer.
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