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A-L Equipment Company, Inc. has been in business since 1955, at which time it was incorporated by founder Art Nelson and his wife Gerry. Art was no stranger to liquid handling systems, as he had worked at a pump distributor before going out on his own. His legendary reputation for successfully installing pumps where people said “it couldn’t be done” was a perceived threat to…

Centennial Equipment was founded in 1958, by Jack Putt, in Golden, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. This was a one-man show at first, with Jack being the owner, sales person, and maintenance crew all rolled into one. The company began as a manufacturing rep and distributor for industrial equipment, including rotating equipment and other things with shafts that turn. By 1960, the…

DXP Enterprises was founded in 1908, under the name of Southern Engine and Pump Company (SEPCO). Initially, SEPCO operated as a product distribution company, providing pumps and gas compressors in its normal market area. The company continued to grow over the years, gradually acquiring additional products, services and locations. They kept the SEPCO name until 1996, when…

Crane Engineering is a third generation, family-owned business that began 80 years ago with founder Herbert Crane, who started the company in 1939, on Wisconsin Ave. in Appleton, WI. At that time, it was a one-man operation, representing two manufactured lines provided by Viking Pump and ITT Goulds Pumps. The initial target market was pulp and paper, with Kimberly-Clark Corp…

Pye-Barker was founded in the 1930s, when John Pye and Ben Barker decided to start their own company in Atlanta, Georgia. Both Georgia Tech graduates, the pair had been working together at Goodyear when they created a new way to cut conveyor belts into custom links. This was an exclusive, innovative concept in those days for which Pye-Barker became well known.

Rogers Machinery Company, Inc. was co-founded in 1949 by two war buddies, Ned Rogers and Walter M. Novak, who served together aboard the USS Reno in the South Pacific during WWII. These like-minded veterans followed their dream to build a business providing compressed air equipment and pumps to the Pacific Northwest (Portland, Oregon), home to the pulp and paper, aluminum, agriculture, and…

Kerr Pump & Supply, a notable first distributor of Viking pumps, has an illustrious 100+ years business history in the Detroit area. The company began manufacturing electric and steam driven centrifugal pumps under the name of Kerr Machinery & Supply, founded in 1905 by Alexander M. Kerr, along with his two sons, David and Robert, and incorporated in 1907. A profile written about…