Our History

1959
Russel and Dalila Norris were married in August of 1959.  The day after the wedding they were in Honduras at a battery factory learning the business.  They stayed for four months.  At the end of that time they returned to Belize City and started what would become R.E. Norris Co. Ltd..  RENCO was thus a honeymoon and a career for them.

In the first years – until proper manufacturing facilities could be established – finished batteries were imported from Sweden.  Later, raw materials -oxides, lead, plates, separators and acid – were brought over from the U.K..

1961

RENCO batteries were on display at Militia Hall when Hurricane Hattie devastated Belize – the batteries were never seen again but RENCO and Belize plodded on.

1962

RENCO opened its doors at #36 Hyde’s Lane for battery sales, service and repairs.

1965

RENCO operations moved to 82 New Road. It was at this location that formal manufacturing was first started.  In those days raw materials were imported from England.  The active material,  an oxide formula developed specific to the local conditions, was prepared, mixed and pasted manually to the plates.  All phases of the manufacturing of the batteries was done by hand.  Assembly with simple jigs and fixtures, welding and casting using gas torches, melting the asphalt to seal the covers with an electric pot.

1966

A small loan was obtained from the Development Finance Corporation enabling more investment toward the establishment of full fledged local manufacturing.

1970s

RENCO moved once again.  This time far outside town amongst the mangrove at 1 1/4 Miles on the Northern Highway to establish the Factory at its current location.  Here production could be scaled up but continued to use the traditional design consisting of hard rubber containers and individual cell covers sealed with asphalt.  Later, with the introduction of designs employing polyethylene containers and one-piece covers, real automation was introduced including an automatic grid casting machine, lead melting furnace, oxide mixing machine, automatic grid pasting machine and all the supporting plant and equipment required for mass production.

Full Circle

During the 90’s global economic pressures coupled with lack of support for local industry on the part of  Government forced RENCO to once again become an importer of batteries.  Over the past decade, RENCO has sourced its batteries from top tier battery manufacturers in the United States.  During this time RENCO introduced the unprecedented TWO YEAR warranty with its Maintenance Free batteries, complemented with a lower cost one year label.

Today we are proud to continue to offer the best available batteries and service in Belize.  RENCO Battery “Getting Belize Started Since 1960”.