Fisher History 5jy4j

© 2005 Fisher Controls International LLC All Rights Reserved. Research, writing and design by Marcy Patterson and Lesley Smid

Fisher Controls International LLC 205 South Center Street Marshalltown, Iowa 50158 USA

T

his book is dedicated to the thousands of employees and sales personnel who have made Fisher® brand products known throughout the world. We are particularly pleased to have this opportunity to present this book to you. We hope you find your work rewarding and that you make many friends in this organization. Your years of employment are appreciated. It is because of the fine personnel that we have gained such an enviable place in which to work. We wish you good health and years of enjoyment. Our best days are yet to come.

This book is a compilation of photos, heritage items, memories, facts and experiences from 125 years. We apologize for any errors or inaccuracies. Thanks to all who contributed to this book, especially the reviewers, Fisher heritage committee , and the 2005 125-year planning committee. Fisher, Wizard, Level-Trol, Vee-Ball, FlowScanner, ENCORE, POSI-SEAL, Baumann, Fishtail, easy-e, Whisper Trim, Cavitrol, PROVOX, ¯ edisc, Rosemount, ENVIRO-SEAL, Hi-Ball, FisherFAST, Accupressure, FIRSTVUE, FIELDVUE, WhisperFlo, PlantWeb, FloVue, ¯ eplug and DeltaV are marks owned by one of the companies in the Emerson Process Management business division of Emerson Electric Co. Emerson and the Emerson logo are trademarks and service marks of Emerson Electric Co. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. D351228X012 MR108-CD165 Printed in the U.S.A. / 7M / 9-2005

CONTENTS 1880s—Pioneering With Determination ..............4 1890s—Diversifying to Survive ............................5 1900s—Spreading the Word ................................5 1910s—Developing a Sales Organization..............7 1920s—Engineering and Growing ........................8 1930s—Hanging On Through Tough Times ........10 1940s—Producing Valves for Victory ..................16 1950s—Progressing and Expanding....................23 1960s—Seeking Global Growth ..........................32 1970s—Entering the Electronic Era ....................47 1980s—Maintaining a Quality Culture ................58 1990s—Gaining a World View ............................68 2000s—Leading the Industry ..............................76

4 | The Fisher Story

1880s 1880 William Fisher invents the Type 1 constant pressure pump governor.

1884 The company, Fisher & Beebe, receives a basic design patent on the Type 1 pump governor (patent number 305,167).

William forms a partnership with George Henry Beebe, who owns a wooden, two-story machine shop on the corner of First Avenue and Linn Street in Marshalltown, Iowa, United States. William Fisher

1887 40 pump governors are sold. 1888 Partnership takes in an investor, Erastus A. Harris. First product catalog is handwritten.

William Fisher, sixth from left, and employees, 1897

William Fisher and His Type 1

T

he Fisher story began in the late 1800s with a talented young engineer and inventor who dedicated himself to solving a process control problem. Born in Cambridgeshire, England, in 1838, William Fisher came to America as a boy of 10. His family settled along the Mississippi River near Clinton, Iowa. Young William distinguished himself as a mechanic in a small engine shop and learned as much as he could

about steam, the major source of power at that time. In 1876, at age 38, William accepted a job as the chief engineer for the city of Marshalltown, Iowa, and helped install the water works. When a raging fire threatened the levee area of town, William was called from his home to maintain water pressure for the town’s firemen. Exhausted from handthrottling the steam-driven pumps through the night, he felt

there must be a better way to control the pumps and maintain them at a constant pressure. Many months and trials later, he was satisfied with one of his product designs—the Fisher Type 1 constant pressure pump governor (which is actually a regulator). In 1880, he applied for a patent and began to manufacture his invention in a building on the corner of First Avenue and Linn Street.

The Fisher Story | 5

1890s

1900s

1893 Display at the world’s Columbian Exposition fair in Chicago, Illinois.

1900 William incorporates Fisher Governor Company with $20,000 from George Beebe and $10,000 from George R. Estabrook. Capital stock is divided into shares of $100 each.

1897 Factory employees number 10. 1899 First distribution of dressed chickens and geese to employees at Columbian Exposition coin, 1893 Thanksgiving time. Sketches of new designs and alterations are drawn on the floor with chalk.

Machine tools in the factory include one turret lathe, four engine lathes, one single-spindle drill, a planer and a buffing wheel.

Calendar and price list, 1901

Employees receive first bonus checks. Display at the Exposition Universelle Internationale in Paris, . 694 pump governors sold.

Type 1 installed on a reciprocating pump

1904 William Fisher and his wife, Martha, participate in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and earn a gold medal.

William and Martha Fisher at an equipment show. The sign reads: Pioneer of the Fisher Steam Pump Governor, Nuf Sed.

he shop in which the first pump governors were made was owned and operated by a Marshalltown machinist named George H. Beebe. He and William, along with two local investors, formed the “first” company called Fisher & Beebe. The fledgling enterprise was incorporated in 1900 and renamed the Fisher Governor Company. Whether by intent or accident, very little is written

about George’s involvement in the company. He is mentioned, however, in the 1942 edition of You & Your Company. George Beebe was involved in the company’s management in part because William Fisher was occupied as chief engineer at the Marshalltown soldiers’ home. When William died on November 29, 1906, George became the president. Born in 1853 in DeWitt, Iowa, George Beebe was a farmer and

traveling salesman before drifting into Marshalltown and its machine shop, which eventually he owned. George was an investor and director of the Brauer Acetylene Lighting Company. George had many lodge affiliations and was active in the Iowa branch of the National Association of Engineers.

William Had a Partner

T


1905 Vertical actuators, steam traps and back pressure valves are introduced. Annual sales reach $44,000. 1906 George Beebe becomes president when founder, William Fisher, es away.

Type No. 33 steam trap

A 24-page catalog lists the Types 1 through 9 pump governors and Types 10 and 11 reducing valves. One line reads, “The Fisher governor in the hands of a purchaser is as good as a gold dollar.” 1909 Ralph B. Reasoner succeeds George Beebe as president; George returns in 1913.

1907 Employees number 28, and there are at least 27 competitors. Products are installed in German battleships as well as underground electric railways in London. 1908 The entire factory, power plant and office are housed in one building.

Assemblers in the factory, 1910 Original factory building is now brick veneered

He, Too, Shall Serve

T

wo other Marshalltown men, not of the Fisher family, served as president of the Fisher Governor Company in its early years. Ralph Reasoner graduated from Purdue University in Indiana with the class of 1898 and began his career as an inspecting engineer for the Ft. Wayne Gas Company. Moving to Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1909, he became a stockholder in the Fisher Governor Company, took

an active role in its management, and was elected president in September 1909. In 1912, he reported the company was prospering with employees receiving wages of $16,000. The father of three daughters, Ralph also served the local YMCA and Presbyterian church. Lyle W. Browne was vice president and general manager of the Fisher Governor Company before he became president in 1930. Little is known about his

background except that he was a a local carpenter. He ultimately left Marshall County. George Estabrook, a manufacturer and investor, had principal holdings in the Jasper County Coal Company. In 1896, he also purchased Erastus A. Harris’ interest in the Fisher Governor Company. At the time of his death in August 1908, he was secretary of the Fisher Governor Company.


1910s 1910 Sales reach $60,000.

A 2-inch Type 1 pump governor with iron body and bronze trim sells for $27.50.

1913 George Beebe becomes president, again. 1916 Martha Fisher, William’s widow, becomes president when Harriet Beebe resigns.

First sales representative is established in Cleveland, Ohio (Tomlinson Steam Specialty Company). Catalog grows to 32 pages; includes the Type 12 reducing valve and Type 14 relief valve. 1914 Sales representative is established in Indianapolis, Indiana.

1918 Draftsmen complete the first detailed product drawings.

1915 Harriet Beebe becomes president when her husband, George, es away.

1919 Sales representative is established in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Jasper Fisher, third from left, and employees

artha Fisher and Harriet Beebe each “represented the holdings of her late husband” in the Fisher Governor Company for several years, although little was documented about their activities or decisions as company shareholders and of the board. It’s fair and accurate to describe these women as remarkable and pioneering, if only for reaching beyond their traditional roles.

Martha Ann (Loucks) Fisher (1840 to 1923) or Aunty Fisher was known throughout Marshalltown for her sharp mind, love of quilting and varied interests in community affairs. Mother of three, Martha also reared her infant grandson, Clarence Bates, who became a process control engineer. Harriet (Read) Beebe (1850 to 1929) came to Marshalltown in 1879 from Ohio. She had five children from a previous

marriage when she wed local machinist, George Beebe. Like Martha, she was a devoted mother, church member and community volunteer. Two women, small in stature but strong of character, influenced the direction of the Fisher Governor Company and earned a place in this history book. In an era when few women had wage-earning jobs, two women in Marshalltown, Iowa, led a company.

Madam President

M


1920s 1920 Sales representative is established in Richmond, Virginia.

1923 Jasper Fisher becomes president when his mother, Martha, es away.

1921 Sales representative is established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Circa 1922 All newly married employees receive a 26-piece set of silver, while parents of twins receive a twin-sized baby carriage with the company’s compliments.

Sales representative is established in Denver, Colorado. Serial number 100,000 assigned to a Type 11A steam reducing valve.

John Westlund, patternmaker, 1916

Set of silver

Cover of bulletin catalog, 1927

Jasper Fisher “The Skipper”

I

n 1913, William and Martha Fisher’s son Jasper became secretary of the company. A former cigar salesman, Jasper knew the importance of marketing products and securing sales outlets. He established the company’s first independent sales agency in 1913, making Fisher Governor Company one of the first companies to sell products through local manufacturer’s representatives.

Jasper also launched an international advertising campaign, ensuring that Fisher products would be marketed “throughout the civilized world”

and known “under all suns and in the language of all men.” In 1923, Jasper became president of the company. His genial disposition and sound business leadership guided the Fisher Governor Company through the Great Depression. Capitalizing on the economic recovery, Jasper updated machinery, completed an addition to the factory, and introduced another wave of new products.


1924 First Fisher bowling league and baseball teams are organized.

Ken Puffer (who later co-owns Puffer-Sweiven in Houston) develops the company’s first natural gas regulator, the Type 735. Overhead pulleys and power belts drive machines in the shop.

Jasper Fisher, first row, sixth from left, with employees, 1922

n 2005, Jasper’s network of sales representatives is still going strong. The Fisher valve division is now part of Emerson Process Management and representatives are called local business partners (LBP). Their style of doing business—serving local customers with from global resources—remains the same. With LBPs and direct sales offices worldwide, Emerson Process Management’s annual sales will reach $4.3 billion.

LBP sales personnel are graduate engineers with extensive knowledge of Fisher products and applications, as well as a personal commitment to customer service. Most spend their entire careers with Fisher and develop long-term personal relationships with local customers. Jim Montgomery, senior vice president of sales, North America (2005), said, “Because we deal with sophisticated

products and complex applications, our sales organization is more important today than at any time in our history. Our field sales personnel keep up with advancing technology, certifications, regulations and the breadth and scope of Emerson resources. Customers demand much from them, and they deliver, whatever and wherever the need.”

Jasper’s Sales Network

I


1930s 1925 Employees receive life insurance benefits.

50th anniversary.

1928 Fisher Governor Company acquires the Apex Regulator Company of Decatur, Illinois.

Wizard ® I controller is introduced.

Service regulators and LP-gas regulators are introduced. 1930 Lyle W. Browne succeeds Jasper Fisher as president for a short time; Jasper returns in 1932.

Product line includes pump governors, pressure regulators, relief valves, traps, drainers, strainers, float valves, lever valves, liquid level controllers, vacuum regulators, power plant specialties, oil industry specialties, auxiliary actuated pressure controllers, and gas industry specialties! Sales representatives are established in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; and Detroit, Michigan. Raymond A. Engel (who later has a Fisher building named after him) s the research group.

Drawing of the Fisher Type 36 vacuum fluid extractor, 1928

$160,000 is spent to set up and conduct valve body capacity tests in the research department. Alignment capacity charts produced.

Sports Enthusiasts

I

n 1924, Fisher-Marshalltown organized and sponsored its own bowling and softball leagues. The Fisher softball team (pictured on page 9), led by pitcher Ray Wildman, won three consecutive championships and a winner’s cup. (Fisher didn’t win the softball tournament again until 1945.) Employees’ interest in athletic pursuits and friendly competition grew to include ping pong (1938), basketball

(1940), volleyball, golf (1941), cribbage (1943), archery (1944) and a gun club (1960). 1941 was a busy year for Fisher athletes. The bowlers won some money in the Iowa State Bowling Tournament. The Red Raiders basketball team won a tournament sponsored by the local YMCA, defeating Lennox in the finals. And 75 employees signed up to play in the first table tennis tournament.

League participation dwindled through the war years, but during football season, various Fisher groups held forecasting contests and offered tickets to college games as prizes for the winners. Fisher women also got involved, organizing the first Women’s Bowling League (1943) and teams to compete in the Industrial Girls baseball and basketball (1944) leagues.


1931 Neil T. Chadderdon (who later becomes president) is hired as the comptroller. Extensive sales network in North America plus seven foreign representatives.

First Fisher band is organized. They practice in the storeroom over the boiler house.

Drawing of Fisher buildings in Marshalltown, 1931

n the 1900s, when orders came in by telegraph, the Fisher Governor Company established its own code system in an effort to shorten each message. Code words pertaining to shipping instructions, for example, began with the letter “A.” Pipe sizes began with the letter “C” and so on. Phrases such as caustic carbonate of soda solution became “Malison” and the calendar date of June 8

became “Nulet.” Within the code, sections were arranged alphabetically so that code words were easy to find when preparing or de-coding a telegram. The un-coded message would read “Ship us freight collect two size two and one half inch type one extra heavy flanged angle cast iron bodies duromite trimmed boiler pressure one hundred sixty five pounds cold water discharge

pressure one hundred ninety five pounds.” The coded message was: Abbess Backbite Caddy Dabble Eductive Fight Feme Meshy Firmet Fetal. One thing was simple. When sending a cable, the following address was sufficient: Fisher Marshalltown Iowa.

The Telegraph Code

I


1932 During the Depression, some employees are paid in stock rather than given a salary.

1934 First issue of The Governor newsletter is distributed to employees and representatives.

Sales representatives are established in Portland, Maine and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 1933 A new catalog is published and business immediately improves.

Sales representative is established in St. Louis, Missouri.

A Woman’s Perspective

Sales meeting photo, 1935

O

ne of the most talented “word processors” the company has ever had is Francis Witham Caputo. Her career at the Fisher Governor Company began in 1937, when the company had fewer than 200 employees and one location. She retired in 1978 from a company with several thousand employees at 13 manufacturing, service and subsidiary facilities in half a dozen countries.

Francis shared her thoughts about Fisher Controls at the time of her retirement. “When I came to Fisher on January 25, 1937, young, naive and frightened, things were very different. Typewriters were manual and my first transcription was done with a machine that used cylindrical records which had to be shaved after each use. One time the unfortunate in charge of this operation mistakenly shaved a

number of cylinders that hadn’t been transcribed—disaster! “We wore conservative suits or dresses, hose with seams up the back, and when we dressed up, we wore hats. “Still fresh in my memory is the girl, bolder than the rest of us, who wore a red sweater to work one day. The boss stopped at her desk and asked her what color the sweater was. We never saw it again! “We were meek, addressed


1935 Logo change.

Solid gold emblems awarded to employees to recognize years of service.

First Fisher sales meeting held in Marshalltown. 300 active type numbers and hundreds of specials. Employees number 250. Type 730 service regulator is introduced.

our superiors as ‘Mister’ (at least until instructed otherwise) and were relentlessly conscious that these were the Depression years and we could easily be replaced. “Then came the war, when we wore bobby socks and rode bicycles to work to save gas. I worked enough overtime to buy my first (and last) fur coat. “It was suggested I offer some words of advice to young people at Fisher, those just starting their careers. You have

Emblems show a bust of William Fisher ed by the wings of good fellowship and the hour glass of time

good jobs with a fine company. Give it the very best you can each day, and I’m confident you’ll get more than the best back. If a time comes when it seems to you it didn’t work out quite that way, you still have a comforting thought—you tried.” Francis had a Governor column called “From Whom Heaven Protects,” which appeared regularly for several years. She also wrote the skits delivered at the 1950 and 1955

sales meetings in Marshalltown. Women employees in the 1930s and 1940s were called “office girls” and served as stenographers, secretaries, receptionists and switchboard operators.


1936 Sales representatives are in 44 U.S. cities and 15 foreign countries.

Sales representative is established in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sales representatives are established in Chicago, Illinois and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1938 Neil T. Chadderdon becomes president when Jasper Fisher es away.

Type 77 pressure reducing valve introduced. 1937 New advertising campaign. Jasper Fisher’s wife, Edna, establishes the 10-year Club with 44 charter . The 10-year Club operates a refreshment counter known as “The Canteen” to finance the sick benefit plan. Items include milk, fig pies, Copenhagen ® chewing tobacco, and other treats.

War Time Production

D

uring World War II, the Fisher Governor Company ranked high among United States manufacturing plants ing the war effort. In fact, it was #161 out of some 30,000 companies including airplane factories, arsenals and ordinance works. In July 1942, company president Neil Chadderdon announced that the Marshalltown factory would go on a 7-day week, running three

President Neil Chadderdon poses with an 8-inch Type 57T valve that weighs 2.5 tons, 1941

shifts and including three consecutive Sundays. (Employees got the fourth Sunday of the month off.) Neil commented that even the increased hours associated with the “Valves for Victory” campaign would not in itself meet the demand of war orders. More than 500,000 valves and instruments rolled through the plant during a five-year (1938 to 1943) period, and that equaled the company’s total

production since 1880! For that unprecedented volume and unrelenting pace of production, employees received in 1943 the coveted Army-Navy “E” award, the country’s highest recognition for superior production achievements of vital war materials. Only 3% of all businesses in the United States received this honor. Mustering all their energy and patriotism, employees overcame tremendous obstacles


Logo change.

Recreation room with showers, lockers, card table and ping pong tables is installed in the factory.

Serial number 500,000 assigned to a 3/4-inch Type 1 pump governor.

1937 trifold brochure

Design A globe valve body and Type 361 filter introduced.

Type 470-A control valve

Gas regulator assembly, 1938

to meet nearly impossible delivery requirements. Still under wartime pressure and working at peak capacity, they shipped another 500,000 units during the three years ending in 1946 and received two more stars on their Army-Navy E flag in 1944 and 1945. In 1942, employees also received a Minute-Man Flag along with their bonus checks. The flag was presented to recognize employees’ 100%

participation in the payroll deduction plan for the purchase of war bonds. During the presentation, E.W. Carson, chairman of the committee in charge of war bonds in Marshall County, congratulated Fisher employees for their “fine spirit of cooperation and patriotism.”

Employees bike to conserve gasoline, early 1940s


1940s 1939 Wizard ® I Series 4100 and 4300 field mounted controllers introduced.

Addition to the south portion of the plant is completed (building 10). 1940 New power plant opens next to the plant.

Employees launch the “Valves for Victory” campaign and produce valves for use in the production of ships and planes. Sales representatives are established in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Dallas, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Seattle, Washington; Louisville, Kentucky; and Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The Manhattan Project

One of the famous dress-up parties occurs before Christmas 1939 at the Marshalltown Coliseum. A total of 668 Marshalltown employees and guests attend. Bonus checks are concealed in the programs and Iowa’s Governor, George A. Wilson, is the guest speaker.

I

n 1943, the Fisher Governor Company received a high-priority, top-secret project from the U.S. Government that was reportedly vital to the successful conclusion of the war. The Marshalltown employees involved had to sign secrecy agreements and be willing to work serious overtime. The Manhattan Project was an attempt to duplicate, on a massive scale, what had only been done on a laboratory

table—to build the world’s first full-scale nuclear reactor and a massive chemical complex to extract plutonium. A frantic pace of production was driven by fears that the Nazis were working on the same thing. For Fisher-Marshalltown employees, it meant working quickly, secretly, on new designs, with new materials, for an application never tried nor fully understood. Ray Engel provided technical leadership.

Verle Hunt designed the first Fisher butterfly valve for the project. And, Tom Montieth served as foreman of a special production crew. It took the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the DuPont Corporation a little less than two years to build the plutoniumproducing complex. From there, the first shipment of plutonium went to New Mexico where scientists assembled and tested the world’s first atomic bomb.


Sales reach $2.5 million.

First identification cards for sales representatives.

First Western Union teletype machine is installed to speed communication with sales offices. First two delivery trucks are purchased. Sales offices open in Buffalo, New York; Havana, Cuba; and Bismarck, North Dakota. Jasper Fisher’s son, Bill (J.W. or Jasper William), starts in the finance department. Bill later becomes president. Type 92 steam regulator introduced. 1941 Catalog 1-OP (oil production) is published.

First edition of You and Your Company is distributed to employees.

1942 First identification badges are used. Level-Trol ® Series 2400-248 liquid level controllers are introduced. Sales representatives are established in Phoenix, Arizona; and Charlotte, North Carolina. Fisher components enable the Norden Bombsight (an analog computer) to drop bombs accurately from aircraft at high altitude. (This is unconfirmed; the project was top secret.)

rom 1941 to 1946 The Governor newsletters featured the Fisher Service Roll, listing the names of the 295 employees (by May 1946) called to military service in World War II. The newsletter included a regular column titled “With the Men In Service” as well as personal war reports from Private John Mullen, Jr., who was promoted and transferred from the U.S. to posts in the British Isles and Belgium.

Guest speakers came to Marshalltown to encourage more production and share the realities of modern war with the local audience. The 10-Year Club made arrangements with the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company to provide free smokes for the men in the service. Employees could purchase cartons of cigarettes (at $1.70 each) and distribute them to loved ones via the U.S. Army’s Service of Supply.

Several Fisher-Marshalltown soldiers received Purple Hearts for their service, including Earl Eygabroad (machinist) and Tom Shive (who later became Fisher president). Staff Sergeant Frank Helberg (gas regulator department) died in action (September 1944) during the liberation of , as did Donald Diggins (turret lathebrass room) of pneumonia in Italy (May 1945).

Fisher Honors Its Soldiers

F


1943 U.S. government awards Fisher employees the first of four ArmyNavy “E” awards for outstanding production during World War II.

Coca-Cola Company honors war workers by broadcasting its “Victory Parade of Spot Light Bands” from Marshalltown. Employees buy defense bonds and stamps to supply Uncle Sam with funds. Serial number 1,000,000 assigned to a Type 4357T Wizard controller. Parts checking department organized. First customer request for air cargo shipment. 70 women work in the factory to produce “Valves for Victory.”

Edna: Beloved Gramma

Fisher personnel guide guests through the plant. From left are George Seffinga, Neil Chadderdon, Lester Lawrence, Commander Kellogg, Florence Miller (kneeling), U.S. Senator George A. Wilson and Major Christy Farrar of the U.S. Army.

W

hen Jasper Fisher died in 1938, Neil Chadderdon became company president. Board included Jasper’s widow, Edna, who ultimately succeeded Neil as president in 1944. Florence Edna Baughman was born in Canton, Illinois, in 1879. Six feet tall, Edna sang and taught music in New York before marrying Jasper Fisher in 1903, moving to Iowa and becoming a mother. She encouraged all four

Machinist Mayme Baker operates a turret lathe in the brass room while her two sons (both soldiers) watch, 1944

of her children to play the piano, to paint, and to become “doers of the world and not hearers only.” As president of the Fisher Governor Company (1944 to 1954), Edna helped organize the 25-Year Club, the first factory school, and the purchase of new machines for the “Valves For Victory” campaign. Shortly before Edna’s death in 1960, Bill and his two sisters started the Gramma Fisher

Foundation in memory of their mother. Since then, the income from her holdings (common stock in the Fisher Governor Company) has been used for charitable, religious and cultural projects. It is said that the Gramma Fisher Foundation became the largest private donor to opera, ing production companies throughout the world.


1944 Edna Fisher succeeds Neil Chadderdon as president.

Design D body and Type 14000 regulator are introduced. Paul Elfers is named vice president of sales and consults for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

Bill Fisher, vice president, establishes a strong board of directors.

Sales representatives are established in Memphis, Tennessee and Kansas City, Missouri. Production office area, 1943

acob Eige (served 1899 to 1943) was the fourth employee hired, making $2 per week. He became the plant superintendent and vice president of production. Don Elder (1918 to 1962) was long-time personnel director at Fisher. Ken R. D. Wolfe (1927 to 1963) knew the gas industry and developed the LPG and “brass fittings” business. Gilbert Blue (1932 to 1972)

wore bow ties, played trombone in the Fisher band and became a senior buyer in purchasing. Glenn Brockett (1935 to 1970) was the Fisher Governor Company’s chief engineer and vice president of sales. Vernon “Red” Wansley (1937 to 1981) ed Fisher at age 16 and reportedly “worked every job” in the factory. Roy Joens (1936 to 1982) led the plant engineering and research teams.

Jim Boyd (1938 to 1979) served as head of production control (1944) and factory manager (1952) through many facility expansions. Rudy Ponder (1942 to 1963) was the company’s treasurer. Bill Bestmann (1948 to 1975) led Woodstock (1958), Coraopolis (1966), and international sales (1970s) in Marshalltown.

Memorable Characters

J


1945 First Swedish sales office is established in Stockholm. Factory whistle blew to indicate the end of World War II. The factory shuts down and employees celebrate.

Bill Fisher and his son, Russell, pulling the whistle

Employees number 745. 307,227 units produced in a single year.

Flow test area in the Center Street factory, 1943

J.W. “Bill” Fisher

A

s the oldest son in an affluent family, “Bill” Fisher (born on July 30, 1914) had the resources and freedom for creative pursuits. As a young man, he was far more interested in opera and the arts than in running his family’s company. While he attended Iowa State University as an engineering student and studied musical composition, his younger brother, Charles Allen Fisher, was an active participant in the Fisher Governor Company.

When Allen was killed in a car accident in 1940, Bill accepted a job in the finance department. When his mother retired in 1954, he became president. Though reluctant to don the mantel of leadership, Bill wore it well, guiding the company through a post-war era of rapid growth and technical advancement. He was described as creative, proud, professional, energetic, responsive, far-sighted and dedicated.

Bill expanded Fisher participation in international markets and established facilities overseas. For the employees at home he initiated pension plans and paid vacations. Known as Bill to all employees, he wore colored sweater vests and wing-tip shoes. He had a male secretary but Francis Caputo was his stenographer of choice.


Lumber shortage in United States causes worry for the box house crew.

Fisher Governor Company enters a float in the Iowa centennial parade.

Paid vacation plan is established. 1946 First school for sales representatives convenes in Marshalltown. 25-Year Club is formed.

Harold Lathrop, left, and William Smith

1947 Fisher ments appear in 18 U.S. trade journals.

Fundamentals school testing, 1946

ince the early 1940s, factory, regional and on-site schools have provided a critical face-toface liaison between the company and its customers. Dorothy Hellberg, current director of educational services in Marshalltown says, “Training not only helps increase awareness of Fisher products and services but also promotes the values of quality, service, and innovation that have made our company great.”

Two training sessions, in particular, have a long-standing history and reputation with employees and customers: Gas Control Conferences and Fundamentals School. Course content of Gas Conferences ranges from new regulation devices to sizing criteria to over-pressure protection. These five-day courses have also included factory tours, hands-on workshops, classroom lectures

and discussions with industry professionals. The first “Fun” school, held in 1946, was called Fundamental Principles of Pressure Regulators. More than 20 sales engineers from across the U.S. attended this eight-day school in Marshalltown. Since then, “Fun” school has become a rite of age for new employees and field sales personnel.

Educational Services

S


1948 40,000-square-foot addition to the northwest corner of the plant completed (building 12). Type 98 gas regulator, Type 99 gas regulator and Type 530 Gismo microflow control valve are introduced.

Holiday Spirit

R

etaining the culture of a small-town company, FisherMarshalltown enjoys fond American traditions through the holidays. Such traditions begin small and grow. In December 1934, Jasper Fisher and his employees gathered around the office Christmas tree. He gave each of them a card containing a $5 bill. They presented him with a poinsettia. Fisher employees have been celebrating thus

Tom Shive (who later becomes president) starts in the purchasing department. Sales representative is established in Montreal, Ontario, Canada. Gismo

Employees may voluntarily deduct from payroll for their savings plans. Sales organization, 1948

every year since. Besides hosting annual employee Christmas parties, the company shares its symbols of the season with visitors and residents. Beginning in 1962 a mechanical, gold-suited Santa purchased by Bill Fisher on his travels, bowed to visitors in the Main Office building’s lobby. In 1958, employees designed and constructed a life-sized sleigh and reindeer set to hang above and across Center Street

in Marshalltown. A new set was built in1978 to replace the older one. It still flies today. The company extends holiday greetings in print as well. Each year, the graphics team designs a corporate Christmas card for distribution to Fisher customers, employees and associates worldwide. The Governor newsletter’s December issue includes holiday happenings and a festive, four-color cover.


1950s 1949 Signed a 50-year licensee agreement with Elliott Brothers, Ltd. (Rochester, Kent, England) to manufacture and market products in England, Scotland, , Australia, South Africa, West and Singapore. Company named Fisher Governor Company, Ltd.

1950 Bill Fisher and the board of directors establish the Fisher Governor Foundation, a charitable, non-profit organization to improve the cultural, civic, educational and charitable well-being of Marshalltown. Sales representatives are established in London, England and Caracas, Venezuela.

Type 3500 Positrol valve positioner introduced.

Marshalltown factory first aid room completed.

Awarded industry’s largest regulator contract for 71,000 Type 730BT regulators delivered via 36 truckloads.

Serial number 2,000,000 assigned to a Type 57T valve. Production begins at the Rochester, Kent, England plant.

Left to right Jack Carter, Karl Biermann and Charley Kirchberger

Through the holiday season (early November through January), employees also give generously to worthy causes and the less fortunate. Fisher makes annual contributions to the local United Way campaign and to non-profit organizations such as the House of Comion. In recent years, Emerson and its worldwide divisions have made donations to the families of U.S. troops serving overseas,

to disaster-relief efforts in New York City (after September 11, 2001) and to South East Asia (after the tsunami in 2004). Fisher-Singapore has hosted an annual dinner and dance for up to 700 local employees and their spouses. The evening included a nine-course Chinese dinner, entertainment and prize drawings.

Holiday stationery, 1938


1951 First mobile exhibit used in the U.S.

Addition to southwest corner of the Marshalltown factory (building 13) and new boiler plant (building 14) are completed. Trained nurses are assigned to the Marshalltown first aid room on all three shifts. New equipment added to the Marshalltown research lab includes an oscillator for vibration testing, a recording oscillograph for measurement of stress and a leak detector.

Left to right Bob Kothenbeutel, LaVern Eckhart, Gilbert Brown, John Westlund and Roy Petermeier

Research lab, 1951

Mobile Exhibits

O

ver 40 years and one million miles, mobile exhibits carried Fisher products across the U.S. and Canada and gave new meaning to the concepts of traveling salesman and road show. John Rundall managed the program from 1968 to 1995, and representatives booked the vans for weeks at a time. The first unit was a converted milk truck (1950s). The weight of its load limited speed to 35 miles per hour. The cut-away

products inside, however, could be removed and carried into offices, hotel suites or tradeshows—wherever a salesman might make his pitch. The second-generation truck (early 1960s) featured hydraulic side s that could be raised to reveal the display units inside. Mobile exhibit #3 (1972) was a 28-foot, custom-built trailer that visitors could walk through. Besides valves and regulators, it included a large rack of ac 2

instrumentation and a cabinet full of product literature to distribute. The Fisher logo was painted on the roof so that visitors in tall office buildings could identify the vehicle. The Bluebird motor coaches were the most famous fleet of Fisher mobile exhibits. Each of the three units logged well over 100,000 miles across North America before being retired in 1995.


1952 Original Marshalltown factory is torn down.

First annual summer carnival held at the Marshalltown fairgrounds.

1953 Marshalltown employees number 1200, making the company the largest employer in Marshalltown.

Annual sales hit $17.9 million.

Registration of visitors to the Marshalltown factory begins. 1954 Bill Fisher succeeds Edna Fisher as president.

Left to right Willard Miller, Ira Potter and Leonard Cartwell with three 16-inch Type 462Ls with KK topworks, 1955

Bill Fisher’s design for the famous Marshalltown Main Office building drapes

etween 1940 and 1974, Bill Fisher became Marshalltown’s unofficial “patron of the arts.” He did more to promote music, theatre and creative pursuits than any other citizen in the town’s history. His wife, the former Dorothy Meyer, was a member of the Women’s Board of Lyric Opera in Chicago and an accomplished artist who helped select and display the Impressionist Art

collection at the Fisher Community Center. In big ways (building theatres) and small ways (buying pianos for churches), Bill and Dorothy Fisher shared their great love of music and art with others. Bill’s artistic influence extended far beyond his hometown. For two decades, Bill served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Opera Association

in New York City—both because he loved opera and because it was “the best in the world.” He was also served as an advisor to the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, D. C. At home, he composed music and invested in Broadway productions. In 1987, Bill received the National Medal of Arts Award from U.S. President Ronald Reagan for his civic and cultural contributions.

Patrons of the Arts

B


1955 75th anniversary diamond jubilee sales meeting and celebration in Marshalltown.

Sales representatives give Edna Fisher a silver bowl that has diamonds and a gold lining. Marshalltown factory has 88 turret lathes, 38 drills, 37 engine lathes, 13 milling machines and 28 grinding machines. 915 Marshalltown factory and factory office personnel. Harold Minard stops the milling machine for representatives’ wives touring the Marshalltown plant during the sales meeting, 1955

Oh, What a Party

T

he Fisher family were fun-loving and generous, eager to share the company’s success and profits with employees. As a result, the Fisher Governor Company and in later years, Fisher Controls, developed a reputation for hosting great parties. Bill Fisher, who loved martinis made with Plymouth ® Gin, personally planned and hosted some of the company’s great parties.

In May 1955, for example, the company celebrated its 75th anniversary in Marshalltown in conjunction with the grand opening and dedication of the new general office building. In December 1956, 2000 employees and guests attended the Christmas party at the Tallcorn Towers (a grand hotel) in Marshalltown and danced until 1 a.m. Every employee received a $10 per year-ofservice bonus plus a profit-

sharing bonus of two weeks’ pay. (Bonuses that year totaled $300,000.) For his birthday (July 30), Bill often treated the Marshalltown management team to lunch or dinner at the Elmwood Country Club. They, in turn, would get him a gag gift. The best of these gifts, according to Bill, was a crate of miniature bottles of Plymouth gin.


New 100,000-square-foot research, engineering and general office building opens in Marshalltown. A tunnel connects the new building with the factory. (In 2005, it is the world headquarters for the Fisher valve division and includes international sales , educational services and istration.)

Production begins in the first ex-U.S., non-licensee plant in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. The 88,000square-foot facility produces electronic instrumentation and valves.

Thermo Instruments Company of Belmont, California, is acquired, adding electronic controls to the product range. Type 657 and 667 spring-anddiaphragm actuator, Type S100 service regulator and Belmont level controller (first electronic instrument ) are introduced. Bill Fisher donates land for a YMCA and YWCA building in Marshalltown. Fresh, hot coffee served to Marshalltown factory employees on all three shifts.

for field sales personnel. The formats, mastheads and distribution methods of each have changed several times, but both publications are still in production and heavily focused on the Fisher valve business. These newsletters serve as the Fisher voice, a means to recognize individual and group achievements, and as a reference on the company’s history.

The February 1940 Governor included a poem written by employee Harl Gamber’s mother, Mrs. Jane Brandon. T-ell me jolly workmen of the Fisher crew. H-ow do you like this paper, and what does it mean to you? E-dited for your use, be sure and read it through. G-entle little Governor, fresh off of the press. O-n your little mission, with news more or less. V-ery interesting, full of truth and fun. E-very now and then, reports a victory won. R-eaders of this paper, think it’s very fine. N-ot one little feature falls out of line. O-n employees, business, projects—it is on the dot. R-ead this little paper, whether you like it or not.

Employee Communications

M

anagers have made an effort to share business information with employees. Regular communication has ranged from site-wide meetings to newsletters and, more recently, satellite broadcasts. Two of the company’s wellknown publications are The Governor newsletter (since 1934), produced by and for Marshalltown employees, and the Control Line (circa 1955), featuring short and timely items


1956 Control Specialty Corporation is formed as a manufacturing subsidiary in Houston, Texas, to supply electrically actuated control elements to the oil production industry.

Marshalltown employees compete in bowling leagues, gun club and state cribbage tournament as well as sponsoring their sons in a soap-box derby.

Type L100 Series COMBOVALVE multipurpose LP-Gas valve and 2300 Series liquid level controllers are introduced.

1957 Logo change.

Fisher aircraft transports executives between Marshalltown and sales offices and industry meetings.

Philanthropy

A

sense of pride in and commitment to the community became a Fisher family trademark. In 1950, the family established the Fisher Governor Foundation, which contributed funds for college scholarships in medicine, music, law, engineering and many other fields. The organization also provided financial assistance to churches, hospitals, playgrounds and recreational facilities in the communities in which the Fisher

Hail storm damages the main office building in Marshalltown. Fire in duct work causes damage in the order processing department.

COMBOVALVE

Acquisition of Continental Equipment Company (Coraopolis, Pennsylvania) adds butterfly valves to the product range and a 42,000-square-foot plant. It is renamed the Fisher Continental Division.

Governor Company operated. Millions of dollars have been donated to educational, health and cultural projects worldwide. Marshalltown schools and churches have received pianos and kitchen appliances. Organizations like the United Way, the American Red Cross, the Little League ®, the Boy Scouts of America ® and the Chamber of Commerce have received Foundation .

The Fisher Foundation built the Fisher Community Center in Marshalltown in 1958 as a lasting gift and tribute to its hometown. When not at Iowa State University, renowned sculptor Christian Petersen taught art classes in the Community Center’s studio (1958 to 1960). Bill Fisher commissioned him to create a statue of lasting merit for the Community Center. Christian agreed, and


44,000-square-foot addition to the southeast corner of the Marshalltown plant (building 17).

Wizard II pressure controller introduced. Fisher Governor common stock sells to the public for $12.50 per share. Floating holiday established for Marshalltown employees. Newly formed Gramma Fisher Foundation s the arts and honors the memory of Edna Fisher. The Fisher children (Bill and his sisters Martha Ellen Tye and Emily Cartwright) got their love of music from Edna. United Auto Workers establish a bargaining unit at the Fisher Continental Division.

though his health was failing, he rallied to complete the 13-foot bronze statue. “Dedication to the Future,” unveiled in April 1961, was Mr. Petersen’s last sculpture. It now graces the fountain outside of the Community Center. In 1969, the Fisher Foundation also built Marshalltown’s community theatre, named for Bill’s sister Martha Ellen Tye. Funds from the Gramma

Napkin artwork created for a sales meeting

Foundation, established to honor Edna Fisher, built the “little” Fisher Theater on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames. (Bill worked with the architects of all three buildings in the Iowa State Center complex.) In Marshalltown, Fisher donated land for a YMCA (1955), an elementary school (1959), a youth soccer field (first games played in1992) and a new public library (2003).

These contributions and facilities are lasting evidence of the Fisher family’s generosity and concern. Following their example, Fisher employees continue to volunteer their time and money to community projects around the world.


1958 Bill Fisher announces a seven-cent hourly wage increase in a talk to Marshalltown employees.

First internal safety control valve with excess flow protection and electronic level transmitter are introduced.

Marshalltown employees machine castings from 40 different foundries and work on a threeshift basis. Conveyor system installed in Marshalltown plant.

Employees hear about wage increase, 1958

Supermarket stock program introduced, offering shipment of certain products within 36 hours.

Supermarket Program

Equipment from the assembly department is brought to shipping by the conveyor

T

he Supermarket Program (1958) was designed to provide customers with 36-hour product delivery from stock. Fisher-Marshalltown employees including Jim Coulter, Hap Ray, Ben Rector and Joe Gaskill maintained a large inventory of completed regulators, control valves, pilots and level controllers—assembled, tested and ready for shipment. Before computers, the inventory list was updated and

mailed (by U.S. post) to sales representatives’ offices every Friday afternoon. On Monday morning, each agent had a current list of the equipment available for shipment. Orders sent by teletype, telegraph or phone were clearly marked “Supermarket.” The first year in operation, the Supermarket averaged $2,000 per day in shipments and never failed to deliver within 36 hours, as promised. In its second

year, an overhead conveyor system (same type used in Marshalltown assembly today) was constructed to speed up top-works handling, assembly and transportation of heavier stock items.


Fisher Governor Foundation builds the Fisher Community Center for the civic, cultural and social uses of the Marshalltown community.

Wooden, painted Santa Claus hangs for the first time between the factory and office building over Center Street in Marshalltown.

Flow lab in Marshalltown main office building, 1956

n 1930, the Fisher Governor Company introduced its first level measuring device, the Type 246. Using a cantilevered spring to the displacer, this product served liquid level, level interface or density applications. A new rotary shaft concept replaced the cantilevered spring and evolved into the first torque tube design. Patented in 1939, the torque-tube design was used in the Type 248 (1942), and the

248 was used with the Type 2400 Level-Trol ® Series. Some of these 248-2400 pneumatic level controllers are still in service today. The Type 248 torque-tube assembly was redesigned (1946) by Verle Hunt and became the Type 249. The 249 design remains essentially unchanged except for a few improvements to its cages, heads and torquetube arms. The Type 2500 Series Level-Trols, used with the 249,

provide improved performance and reliability. The 249-2500 series made the Fisher a leader in the level controls market. The Type 2320 (1960), Type 2340 (1970), and Type 2390 (1984) series electronic level transmitters were introduced and used with the 249. The FIELDVUE ® DLC3000 digital level controller (2000) is the newest level device.

Level-Trol ® Line

I


1960s 1959 New 35,000-square-foot manufacturing licensee plant opens in Revesby, New South Wales, Australia.

1960 Acquisition of the Vickery Company (California) adds advanced ball-type valves to the product line. Fisher-Vickery cryogenic ball valves for missile service are assembled in the white room, where extreme cleanliness is observed. Models are supplied to Rocketdyne’s booster engines for the space program.

Fisher elementary school constructed in Marshalltown on five acres of land donated by the Fisher family.

-320° F liquid nitrogen tests conducted near the Marshalltown boiler house for the cryogenic ball valve used in the space program. Furthering an agreement between Elliot Automation and Manurhin, manufacturing begins in Mulhouse, .

Inspection department, 1960

Expanding Overseas

I

n the mid-1950s, the company began a period of tremendous global expansion. It balanced licensing agreements with direct investments abroad. By 1959, there were 69 sales offices in the U.S.; 38 foreign sales offices; and 5 licensed factories (Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and Argentina). Inventories expanded in relation to the growing product line and the increased global volume.

To meet demand, Fisher launched an effort to expand international capabilities. This required a high degree of cooperation at all levels, with different languages, customs, regulations, laws and time zones to consider. Fisher-Marshalltown established an international sales department which served as the focal point to coordinate sometimes complex, multinational projects.

Bill Fisher sent managers on assignment overseas, giving them a chance to gain international experience. How successful were these expansion efforts? • Between 1955 and 1965, annual sales increased from $20M to $53M per year. • From 1961 to 1962, export sales increased 60%. Fisher received another E flag and


Sales representatives’ committee established. Painting titled “The Peak of Progress” is presented to Edna Fisher from the sales representatives.

Albert Da Costa of the Metropolitan Opera Association sings at the 80th anniversary sales meeting, which utilizes the theme “Around the World With Fisher.” (Tallcorn Hotel in Marshalltown)

Clock given to sales meeting attendees, 1960

Process control display truck, 1963

award from the government, but this time the E stands for export expansion. This award was the first in the nation to an Iowa firm. • By 1963, the company had established sales offices in Algiers, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, , , Great Britain, Holland, India, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico,

Peru, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Venezuela. • By 1967 skilled production people were machining and assembling quality Fisher products in plants located in Marshalltown, Iowa; Coraopolis, Pennsylvania; McKinney, Texas; Woodstock, Ontario, Canada; and Toluca, Mexico, which totaled 920,000 square feet of manufacturing area. This was an

increase of 125% in less than four years. This manufacturing capacity did not include the plants in Cernay, ; Cowdenbeath, Scotland; Rochester, England; Sydney, Australia; or Tokyo, Japan. • By 1978, annual export sales represented almost a third of the company’s worldwide sales volume!


1960 Systems analysis group in Marshalltown uses a transistorized analog computer to solve engineering problems.

New 40,000-square-foot manufacturing licensee plant in Kawasaki City, Japan. (Tokyo Kiki Engineering Co. Ltd.)

Rochester plant opens “clean room” where automatic fluid control equipment is assembled under dust-free conditions.

Left to right are Eisoke Nishi, president of Tokico, Ken Wolfe, Marshalltown, M. Moritani, president, and I. Moritani, managing director of the Moritani firm, 1957

Gaining A World View

Bill and Dorothy Fisher in Egypt, 1960

B

efore international travel became commonplace, company executives were traversing the world for both work and play. Many of them shared trip reports with readers of The Governor newsletter. In 1936, Neil Chadderdon visited Montreal, Canada; London, England; Paris, ; the Hague, Holland; and Berlin, . He said that Europeans were confident of three things: “War is inevitable.

The U.S. will become involved. Fisher product exports into Europe, already suffering from high tariffs, will not improve anytime soon.” In April 1957, Paul Elfers submitted “Notes from a Memorandum Pad Re: Visit to South America” for publication. In it, he mentioned a non-stop, overland flight of 2,860 miles that lasted 13 hours and took him from Caracas, Venezuela, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, over the

Amazon jungle. During that trip, Paul also stopped in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru. Glenn Brockett (August 1957) made several trips to Europe to evaluate business prospects there. He met with managers of Fisher Governor Company Ltd., based in the U.K., and with customers in , Italy and Austria. The European market was expanding, he said, and Fisher would need to add


Gold-plated 2-inch Type 657A-3560 with serial number 3,000,000 is displayed at Instrument Type 3560 Society valve exhibition. positioner

Air conditioning added to the Marshalltown factory. Fisher Man theme used in advertising.

1961 New manufacturing licensee plant opens in Monterrey, N.L., Mexico (Controles Automaticos). Operations move to Toluca in 1965.

Sales meeting held at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. An eight-foot statue titled “A Dedication to the Future” is installed in the pond at the Fisher Community Center.

First Sales Sez newsletter is distributed to representatives; it was previously a column in The Governor newsletter.

Miniature version of the “A Dedication to the Future” statue by sculptor Christian Petersen

Educational services and sales development departments are organized in Marshalltown.

more production resources in the region to keep pace with sales. That same year (August 1957), Ken Wolfe and his wife made a six-week business trip to Japan and the Far East, arriving nine hours late besides losing one full day crossing the international date line. His primary objective was to locate a suitable organization to manufacture Fisher products in Japan and to begin the process

of obtaining government approval. Ken and his wife sampled raw fish; drank sake; traveled by boat, plane, car, and overnight train; made stops in Japan and Hong Kong; and covered a total of 20,000 miles. “The Orient is completely different from anything to which we are accustomed,” he said. “In Japan, there are 96 million people living in an area the size of California.”

Bill Fisher and his wife, Dorothy, took a winter vacation to the Middle East in April 1960, stopping in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. Bill said, “It is amazing to realize how different the Arab world is from ours, and at the same time, how little it has changed in thousands of years.” While in Egypt, they toured the pyramids and rode two camels named “Whiskey Sour” and “Canada Dry.”


1962 Design U Vee-Ball ® throttling ball valve introduced.

Tokico, the manufacturer licensed to manufacture Fisher products in Japan, puts out a magazine similar to The Governor.

Sales meeting held at the Mountain Shadows Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. First attempt by the United Auto Workers (UAW) to organize the Marshalltown factory.

1963 Designs DS (2-way) and Design DY (3-way) valve bodies introduced. Automated data collection system installed in the Marshalltown plant. Data processing department is organized to mechanize cost ing, inventory control and order entry procedures. First computer is purchased in Marshalltown; it stores 16,000 bits of information. Tie tac is made available to sales agents and personnel; it is a miniature of the gold-plated serial number 3,000,000 control valve.

Fisher “Firsts” In Technology

Y

ou don’t get to be a world leader overnight. You do it by maintaining a culture of continuous improvement and a commitment to finding a better way of doing things. Fisher Governor Company founders established the culture and all subsequent managers have followed it. As a result, Fisher products lead the industry for innovation and quality. Fisher engineers were the:

• First to develop authoritative capacity and sizing data charts. • First to use rotary valves (ball and butterfly valves) as process control valves. • First to introduce techniques of control valve diagnostics using the FlowScanner ™ system. • First to develop a house service gas regulator (the S402) using engineered resins.

• First to develop aerodynamic and hydrodynamic noise prediction techniques and procedures. • First to incorporate scanning electron microscopy in control valve evaluations. • First to develop a mobile, non-intrusive, hand-held level detecting device.


Sales meetings held at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Doral Country Club in Miami, Florida.

Thirty-five research engineers and technicians complete 530 test projects in the Marshalltown laboratories in one year.

Ball polisher added to Marshalltown tool engineering department. For the first time since its beginning in 1934, The Governor newsletter is delivered to the homes of Marshalltown employees.

Level-Trol ment from the early 1960s

of the women’s gas regulator bowling team from left, Elaine Paul, Lillian Yates, Virginia Clark, Pat Oetker and Barbara Scafferi

• First to receive N-stamp certification and to manufacture automatic control valves for nuclear power plants. • First to develop digital control valves and performance diagnostics for improved control and predictive maintenance. • First to develop special control valve sizing procedures for nonideal and non-Newtonian fluids.

In the 1960s, the Fisher slide rule was a state-of-the-art device used to size control valves. Cv was the universal liquid flow coefficient standard, but Fisher engineers didn’t consider it very accurate for sizing valves in gas applications. Thus, the Fisher engineering department developed the Cg gas coefficient that is still used today for sizing valves in gas service.


1964 Marshalltown plant employees vote for United Auto Workers representation by a count of 453 to 435. UAW newsletter

Type 3100 Lev-Al-Con capacity level detector introduced. Tradeshow features seven identical Fisher control valves manufactured in seven countries.

In-House Resources

B

eginning with the pattern shop in 1915, the company established in-house departments to its core development, sales and manufacturing activities. Today, these departments enter and process orders, develop product drawings (drafting), handle imports and exports, maintain equipment and facilities, control inventory, generate advertising, recruit new employees, and many other activities too

numerous to mention. As the company grew, managing information became especially critical. Several groups now focus on this task. These teams include the information centers (providing library and Web-based services), technical documentation (producing product manuals and bulletins), mail rooms (handling inter-office and general post deliveries) and publication stockrooms (storing and distributing product and

promotional literature). Employees within these departments deal with tremendous volumes of company-generated material and receive requests from Emerson and customer facilities all over the world. Photographers (George Porter and Dave Anderson) and graphic design employees were responsible for many of the photos, documents and print ads that appear in this book.


New 35,000-square-foot manufacturing licensee plant opens in Cowdenbeath, Scotland.

LPG and natural gas regulator manufacturing moves from Marshalltown to a 40,000-square-foot factory in McKinney, Texas.

Office parking stickers used in Marshalltown. Factory training center in Marshalltown trains shop machine operators. Sales meetings held at the Port-O-Call in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California. First printing of the Control Valve Handbook. Sales reach $39 million. 1965 Elliot Automation Private Limited incorporates to sell valves in South East Asia. First automatic telephone system installed in Marshalltown eliminates the switchboard.

Kathy Viers

hy are Fisher control valves painted green? One theory is that green is a lucky symbol of profitability—the color of money. Some say it’s because Fisher valves originated in America’s heartland, home of green fields and green tractors. Others say there was a sale on green paint that week, and the buyer went a little crazy! According to former president Tom Shive, bright green was simply not being used

by any other valve manufacturer at the time. Tom said, “The choice was made in the mid-1950s, when the old style cast iron diaphragm casings were replaced by pressed steel casings used on the Type 657 and 667 topworks. The team decided to paint them a distinctive color—one that would differentiate Fisher assemblies installed in a refinery, chemical plant, pulp mill, etc. The

distinctive color turned out to be bright green. Paul Elfers, who was vice president of sales at the time, probably made the selection.” After 34 years with the company, Tom says he and a lot of other guys have “Fisher green” in their blood. And those green Fisher valves are indeed a distinctive asset and source of pride in industrial processing plants all over the world.

Why Green?

W


Type 546 electropneumatic transducer, Design BF valve body, Design IC cryogenic valve body, Design ZLA lined angle body, and Design V25 rotary ball valves are introduced.

1965 New 30,000-square-foot plant opens in Toluca, Mexico.

Design BF valve ment

Materials management department organizes in Marshalltown. IBM 1460 computer, 1965

Toluca, Mexico, Exports Parts

T

he factory in Toluca, Mexico, was the first non-licensee production facility Fisher established in Latin America (1965). Initially, the site produced control valve assemblies and exported trim parts (since 1985) to North America. In 1993, however, Toluca shifted its focus to exporting parts. Today, Toluca is an important, high-volume supplier of Fisher valve components worldwide.

Ramon Sanchez, hired as a materials manager (1984), has witnessed two major facility expansions (1994 and 2004). Each expansion included the transfer of CNC machines from Marshalltown and Sherman as well as the addition of more than 100 new employees. “Thanks in part to lean manufacturing and product rationalization initiatives (2000), we were able to increase capacity without new buildings,”

he said. “The expansions doubled production and enabled us to keep pace with double-digit growth in sales.” Ramon was promoted to Toluca plant manager (1996). “We have made safety and on-time delivery improvements, as well as earned ISO 9002 certification (1997),” he said. “The site’s 254 employees will continue to the Fisher worldwide manufacturing strategy.”


New turret lathe, drill and milling machine installed in Marshalltown factory.

Sales top $53 million. Metropolitan Opera Studio presents a one-act opera at the 85th anniversary sales meeting, which utilizes the theme “The Curtain Rises.” (Tallcorn Hotel in Marshalltown).

“Getting to know Fisher” corporate ment series begins. The Fisher Foundation adds four paintings and four new statues (The Four Seasons) to the Marshalltown Community Center’s art collection. Company’s guiding philosophy is Quality People, Quality Products and Quality Profits.

Dick Brewer operates a new solid state controlled automatic turret lathe (with electronic logic circuits) in the Marshalltown shop, 1965

rom the original Fisher Governor Company sprang a host of separate product and business segments that now operate as divisions within the global scope of Emerson Process Management. • Fisher regulators serve industrial and natural gas applications. • Instrument & Valve Services focuses on valve and instrument

repair, diagnostic capabilities, and startup services, as well as the sales of ENCORE ® valves. • Flow Computer Division (created in 2000) focuses on flow computers and remote terminal units to measure and control flow in gas fields and pipelines. The Fisher valve division, which represents the core strengths and capabilities of the

Fisher Governor Company, also expanded its product line through acquisitions. Today, the Fisher line includes POSI-SEAL butterfly valves, Baumann sanitary valves, and steam conditioners and de-superheaters. The valve division is comprised of six business units: sliding-stem valves; rotary valves; parts; instruments; engineered products; and Baumann products.

Divide and Grow

F


1966 New 100,000-square-foot manufacturing licensee plant opens in Cernay, , moving production from Mulhouse, .

Design BFC valve body, Type 310 gas regulator and Continental Fishtail ® valve introduced.

Drawing of flow through the Fishtail valve

Advertising department in Marshalltown purchases its first collating machine.

Harry Bailey (left) and Jack Johnson operate the new collating machine

Cernay, , office in 1966

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “The Countdown Year.” (Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. and Kona Kai Klub in San Diego, California).

Governor Road Opens

Safety glasses program begins in Marshalltown.

A

t its opening in 1967, the 360,000-square-foot factory on Governor Road in Marshalltown was the largest and most advanced control valve manufacturing facility in the world. In some areas, six machining operations occurred simultaneously, and it took only six seconds for a brass rod to become control valve components. Machining resources already included an 108-inch vertical turret lathe

and a six-spindle drill. Up to 1,200 employees worked at this facility on three shifts. In 1991, the largest manufacturing restructuring effort in the company’s history began. The focused factory concept merged machining and assembly capabilities to improve efficiency. Manufacturing units or cells were created to focus on specific product lines (such as sliding-stem valves) and to enable line-of-sight

manufacturing. Each cell functions independently while sharing shipping and maintenance resources. A 28,000-square-foot addition to Governor Road included a state-of-the-art powder-coat painting system, welding booths and updated lighting. In 2001, the site adopted lean manufacturing and value stream concepts to eliminate waste and improve throughput.


1967 Governor Road plant opens in Marshalltown. It measures 360,000 square feet and is one of the most advanced machine shops of its kind in the world.

Design E valve body introduced. Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Keep the Faith Baby, There is a Solution.” (Park Sheraton in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Fisher Governor Company appears on the American Stock Exchange, symbol FG. Ad campaign begins with the theme “It’s Hard to Get Beyond the Reach of the Fisher Man and Fisher Experience.”

A line in this ment reads: Wherever you are, you’ll find the Fisher Man, with his knowledge of the newest products and latest techniques, can solve your control problem

valve was an innovation in 1967 that brought cage-guiding technology, superior control and versatility to the industry. Its valve body is a platform on which one can customize the assembly to fit any application. A choice of trim sizes and styles enables s to maximize control as well as minimize their investment. To date, an estimated 1.5 million e-bodies have been sold worldwide. The rugged,

field-proven easy-e valve continues to set the industry standard for dependability and longevity. Fisher has repeated the easy-e valve’s success with products like the 546 transducer, the 3582 pneumatic positioner, and the 657 Series actuator—each of which have sold more than one-million units. The Fisher valve division designs and builds products that become Cadillacs ® of the process control industry.

The easy-e Sets Standard

T

he Fisher easy-e ® control valve, introduced in 1967 and still selling today, is the largest and most successful control valve product line within Emerson Process Management and quite possibly, within the process control industry. How does one measure a product’s success? For one thing, customers often use the name e-body as a generic term for control valve. The sliding-stem, globe-style


1968 Design ENA nuclear feedwater valve is introduced.

“Psychedelic” control valve advertising campaign.

Dick Lytle, Al Ehrke and Jerry Purtell with customers, 1968

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Complete and Bigger Sales with Cages, Balls and Tails.” (Regency Hyatt House in Atlanta, Georgia, and Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada)

Employees Set Records

Sales meeting, 1968

A

s the birthplace of Fisher Governor Company, Marshalltown, Iowa, provides unique examples of employees’ commitment to service. In 1945, Watson Ramsey observed his 80th birthday on the job in the box house and received the distinction of oldest employee. He’d retired from farming at 71, but when the war began, he wanted to “lend a hand and share in the victory.” Two of Mr. Ramsey’s 22

grandchildren, Don Maulsby and Dale Wilhelmi, also worked for Fisher-Marshalltown at that time. John Eige started in 1900 at age 15, receiving five cents an hour for a ten-hour day, six-day week. The company’s sixth employee, John worked as a machinist and saw nine plant expansions. In 1950, Bill Fisher presented a gold watch to John Eige for 50 years of service. John retired in 1955.

Bob Lane, who retired in January 1995, tied with John Eige for the longest individual length of service—54 years. Bob started working for Fisher-Marshalltown in 1941 at age 17 and over five decades, he claimed he wore out two machines! In 2005, Patrick Rundall, quality manager for the Flow Computer Division in Marshalltown, is the fourth generation of his family to serve


Control valve noise abatement research program initiated in Marshalltown.

Bill Fisher announces plans to divest his family holdings in Fisher Governor Company and relinquish day-to-day operating responsibilities.

Strain gauges test pressure rating of products. Marshalltown engineering gets a new computerized calculator.

Woodstock plant builds three 52-inch butterfly valves for a power plant in Nova Scotia.

Brochure, 1968

Fisher in Marshalltown. He follows in the footsteps of his great-grandfather (John Eige 1900 to 1955), his maternal grandfather (Norman Eige 1939 to 1979), his paternal grandfather (Jack Rundall 1950 to 1965), and his father (John Rundall - 1961 to 2000). From the late 1940s to the mid-1980s, seven brothers from the Case family all worked for Fisher-Marshalltown in the factory. Together, Calvin,

Donald, Floyd, Larry, Mainard, Marvin and Bernard contributed a total of 215 years of service. In 2005, Kevin Case, maintains the family tradition as a janitor, 1st shift, at the Governor Road plant.

The Case brothers make Fisher a family tradition, 1980


1969 Monsanto Company of St. Louis, Missouri, and Fisher Governor Company merge. New name is Fisher Controls Company; it operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Bill Fisher selects Tom Shive to serve as president and chief operating officer.

ac2 electronic instrument, Whisper Trim ®, Cavitrol ® trim and Type 380 differential pressure element are introduced. 2

ac coffee coaster

The Monsanto Merger

Marshalltown management team, 1969

M

onsanto, founded in 1901, pioneered new products and processes not only for the chemical and agricultural industries but also for process control. Monsanto and Fisher merged in 1969 and stockholders traded Fisher shares for Monsanto shares. Monsanto proved willing to invest in new technology, from advanced control systems to electronic instrumentation. Under Monsanto’s leadership

the name was changed from the Fisher Governor Company to Fisher Controls Company. Monsanto invested $100 million in new products: ac2 (1969) and dc2 (1971) electronic anastrumentation and the PROVOX ® distributed control system (1980). Monsanto established:

• Valve-repair facilities in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

•Electronic instrument manufacturing operations in Iowa and England.

•PROVOX instrumentation staging facilities in Texas and Canada.

• A new manufacturing plant in Japan operated by t venture Nippon Fisher Co. Ltd. • An expansion of the R.A. Engel Technical Center in Marshalltown.


1970s Nippon Fisher Co., Ltd. forms as a t venture to manufacture and market products in Japan (Setagaya Ward, Tokyo). The t venture is between Fisher Controls; Moritani and Co., Ltd. (sales representative); and Tokico (manufacturing licensee).

1970 S200 series relief gas regulator introduced. Sales meeting utilizes the theme “MS3=702 + X.”(Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada)

McKinney plant produces its two millionth LP-Gas regulator. Bill Landholt (who later becomes president) is hired. Continental Division plant in Coraopolis breaks ground for new building. Previous expansions include 10,000 square feet in 1962—the same year an office building of 10,000 square feet was built—and 11,800 square feet in 1964. Martha Ellen Tye Playhouse for performing arts opens in Marshalltown. Annual sales reach $72 million. Ray Engel retires after 39 years. First transceiver (fax machine) used in Marshalltown. Sales meetings utilize the theme “We Want to be Easy to do Business With.” (Sheraton-Four Ambassadors Hotel in Miami, Florida, and Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California).

he idea of contracting with individuals and establishing separate independent companies to sell Fisher products has proven its value over time. Jasper and Bill Fisher interviewed many of the young engineers who became Fisher sales representatives. Sales managers, including Paul Elfers and Glenn Brockett, nurtured the network and inspired in it a spirit of friendly competition and teamwork.

The chance to own your own business and to share in Fisher Governor Company's growth was a powerful incentive for many young engineers. In the mid-1940s, Bailie Vinson, Rollie Stover, Bob Mason, Al Ehrke, Jack Carter, Nick Scallon, Clifford Ives, Ken Puffer and Bud Sweiven were among those to seize the opportunity. These men not only built fortunes and reputations, but also served as role models of leadership and

loyalty for the Local Business Partners who followed. Respected by customers and envied by competitors, the Fisher representative selling system has become the best of its kind in the world. With from this network, the Fisher Governor Company grew to lead two (pressure and level) of the four elements of control (flow, temperature, pressure and level) and became a world leader in the control valve industry.

Young Engineers Become Representatives

T

Cavitrol trim ment, 1969


1971 New 32,000-square-foot R.A. Engel Technical Center opens in Marshalltown, housing the world’s most advanced flow test laboratory. It has 15 flow test lines and handles liquids and gases at pressures of 2,500 pounds per square inch.

New 16,000-square-foot manufacturing licensee plant (Fisher Process Equipment, Ltd.) opens in Long Rock, Cornwall, England, to manufacture ac 2 electronic instrumentation.

Technology Leadership

dc2 digital control center, Type 410-EKR “El Toro” gas regulator, giant size 130 actuator, and Design YD three-way valve introduced.

T

he 1960s and 1970s represented a phase of tremendous expansion, especially in of technological developments. During this period, Fisher Controls introduced some of its most famous products, from e-body valves to digital (dc2) and distributed (PROVOX) controls. It also began the research efforts that would lead to industry breakthroughs in noise abatement, liquid level

measurement, reduced cavitation and control valve diagnostics. In Marshalltown, manufacturing and product development resources doubled in size. As head of research and development, Ray Engel expanded Fisher engineering resources to be the most comprehensive in the automatic control valve industry. Besides directing many post-war facility additions,

Ray served as an active member of five technical societies including the Instrument Society of America, American Welding and the Society for Experimental Stress Analysis. Under his direction, Fisher design engineers became innovators who helped move not only Fisher Controls but the entire industry from pneumatic to analog to digital controls. Fisher engineers used computers to solve engineering


“Ask Your Fisher Man” advertising campaign launched in the United States.

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Closing the Loop.” (Broadwater Beach Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi). Bill Fisher s the Monsanto Board and serves until January 1983. Industrial Process Control textbook is published by two Marshalltown research engineers, Gary Anderson and Sheldon Lloyd.

Likeness of John Rundall and Lynn Maxwell in the flow lab

Fisher receives the industry’s first “N” stamp certification from ASME to manufacture nuclear valves.

Left to right Gary Anderson, Sheldon Lloyd and Bill Fisher discuss the first Fisher book on process control

Bob Wilson and 16-inch ENA valve, 1968

problems and were among the first to implement computeraided drafting, valve sizing specifications and quality standards. Documenting what they learned, Fisher Controls produced textbooks and audiovisual materials for use by the industry at large. In 1971, the company opened a new research and development center in Marshalltown, featuring the largest and most-advanced flow

lab in the world. Honoring Ray Engel (1930 to 1969), the R.A. Engel Technical Center in Marshalltown remains the “home base” of Fisher valve division research and engineering. In 1987, Iowa State University named its new mechanical engineering laboratory the Raymond A. Engel Laboratory.

A Hewlett-Packard mini-computer and plotter, which is used to put numerical data into graphic form, drew this profile of Ray Engel


1972 Whisper Trim II, Wizard III controller, and Type 320 electro-hydraulic actuator introduced. First Fisher Service Company opens in Gonzales, Louisiana (Coon Trap Road). Vent silencer first used in Marshalltown.

Advertising ac 2 and dc 2

ac 2 circuit board assembler Linn Ferguson, 1970

I

n the mid-1970s, Fisher Controls Company promoted ac 2 and dc 2 products using 2-page, color ments. Each ment told the story of a customer success. Here were the headlines: “If our process acts up, we can pin down the problem in five minutes with Fisher ac 2.” “Fisher takes the heat off recovery control.”

Division managers view first tests of the vent silencer. From left are Chuck Karns, Jim Teegarden, Glenn Ytzen, Don Estill, Mike Amador, Bill Bestmann and Chuck Shuder.

“Since we put a Fisher dc 2 computer in, we’ve taken 3% more ammonia out.”

“Start-up couldn’t have been smoother. Better yet is how well it stays up.”

“We don’t get bad batches anymore, thanks to the Fisher computer.”

No boiler control downtime. No wonder they bought ac 2 again.

“Every day, we make this much more than we used to.” “Our old recipes and the new Fisher computer make perfect batches time after time.”

How a Fisher dc 2 took the slack out of V-belt production. The newest refinery in the U.S. gets off to a smooth start.


Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Fisher Success Bowl.” (Las Vegas International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, and King’s Inn in Freeport, Grand Bahama)

1973 Sales meeting utilizes the theme, “You Know We’re Going to Get ‘Em.” (Doral Country Club in Miami, Florida)

New art styles and colors adopted for catalog bulletins. Sales representative established in Bogota, Colombia. Stockroom gets a new plastic wrapping machine.

Fisher customers at the ISA show in Houston, Texas, get a helicopter tour of Monsanto Company’s Chocolate Bayou plant. Plant opens in Barcelona, Spain.

Helicopter landing at the ISA show

Verlyn Mysak and Darlene Eggers

Whisper Trim III valve trim introduced.

.S. dependence on foreign oil (1970s) led to the growth of the nuclear power industry and to unique challenges for Fisher design engineers. (They joked that a two-pound nuclear valve shipped with four pounds of paperwork, documenting quality and safety requirements.) Fisher was the first valve supplier to receive N-stamp certification and to design and produce nuclear valves.

One project (1978) involved two Class I valves for a nuclear plant in Japan. Designed to withstand high-temperatures and pressures, the Design SS or “super special” valves control the water re-circulation rate in the reactor’s core, converting two tons of water into steam every second. (The valves remain in service after 25 years and in 2004, the customer ordered replacement trim, valued at $1.8M.)

In the ‘80s, many Fisher competitors dropped out of the nuclear business, but Fisher maintained its and innovation for the industry. Fisher engineers also used the experience gained serving nuclear power to develop severe service products for other industries. From 2004 to 2005, the nuclear power business grew 18%, with $30M in sales.

Producing Nuclear Valves

U


1974 Bill Fisher retires as Fisher board chairman. Sales representatives honor Bill Fisher’s retirement by making it possible to donate Leonardo Da Vinci’s 17th century book titled Trattato della Pittura (Treatise on Painting) to the J.W. Fisher collection in literature and the arts. It is the one-millionth volume in the Iowa State University library. Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Jolly Green Giant.” (MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada) First winner of the Fisher Man of the Year award is Jim Fraychinaud.

Cavitrol III anti-cavitation trim is introduced. Noise application group organized in Marshalltown. Cookbook features the favorite dishes of Fisher sales and marketing people and field representatives. Fisher Theater at Iowa State University is funded largely by the Gramma Fisher Foundation. Bill Fisher donates gold stage curtains to the Fisher Theater and Stephens Auditorium, which were hand woven on a loom in Japan.

New 30,000-square-foot plant opens in Sakura, Japan (Nippon Fisher).

First Service Center On Coon Trap Road

I

n 1972, Fisher Controls established its first valve repair depot in Gonzales, Louisiana. Surrounded by oil and gas customers this facility on Coon Trap Road was the brain-child of Glenn Brockett who was in sales in Marshalltown. Making equipment repair services available to local customers would eliminate the long delays and costs associated with sending products back to the factory.

Fisher sales representatives could make referrals, sell the service and earn a commission on the parts and labor. Texas native Jerry Purtell initially managed the Fisher Service Company and its first repair center in Gonzales.The Gonzales facility, which began as a small machine shop and assembly area, has grown along with the Fisher service business. Today, Gonzales produces ENCORE re-manufactured valves

and is the largest of 52 service and repair facilities in North America. It has six branch offices (Mobile, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Decatur, Alabama; Lake Charles, Louisiana; and Benton; Kentucky), 140 employees, and annual sales of more than $31 million!


New 50,000-square-foot addition to Woodstock, Canada, manufacturing plant. ments run in 12 U.S. industrial magazines.

50,000-square-foot electronics plant (Governor Road South) opens in Marshalltown. In 2005 it houses information technology, payroll, manufacturing engineering and procurement.

1975 New 70,000 square-foot, two-story engineering office addition to R.A. Engel Technical Center.

Milwaukee Die Casting Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, acquired.

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Plan-ParticipateProsper.” (Royal Lahaina Hotel in Maui, Hawaii)

Design V100 Vee-Ball valve and Type 8500 e ¯disc ® valve introduced.

Design V100 ment

Rosemount ® transmitters), conduct plant audits, maintenance turnarounds, and supply re-manufactured equipment via the ENCORE product line. I&VS personnel work hand-inhand with Emerson local business partners to meet customer needs and provide preventive maintenance services including asset optimization, control valve diagnostics, and outage turnarounds.

The goal of the I&VS business unit is to be the dominant, service organization, recognized by global customers as a highly differentiated and value-added service provider. Thanks to the standards and heritage set in Gonzales, the Fisher service team continues to help customers better manage their process plant assets.

Instrument & Valve Services

W

hat began as the Fisher Service Company evolved into the worldwide Instrument & Valve Services (I&VS) organization, led by Denny Cahill (2005) as a separate business unit with annual sales of $200 million. Highly-trained and experienced I&VS personnel machine, fabricate, repair, and troubleshoot Fisher control valves. They also repair instruments (such as


1976 New 96,500-square-foot valve manufacturing plant opens in Sherman, Texas.

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “The Spirit of ‘76.” (Innisbrook in Tarpon Springs, Florida)

Left to right Bruce Duncan, Bill Bestmann, Art French and Tony Casciato ment shows Chuck Karns, manager of the Sherman plant, and the headline reads: We built a Texas-size plant to fill Texas-size orders, 1978

Environmental Stewardship

I

n the 1970s, faced with escalating fuel bills and pollution, Americans began to recycle, to conserve and to enact legislation focused on environmental protection. Anticipating tough new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, industrial producers took a hard look at their processes and turned their expertise to reducing waste and fugitive emissions.

Fisher engineers, too, began to develop environmental solutions for internal and external applications. As the only control valve manufacturer to take part in the EPA air toxin regulatory negotiating meetings, Fisher Controls subsequently introduced products like the ENVIRO-SEAL ® valve packing and bellows system, designed to reduce fugitive emissions from leaking valves, pumps and flanges.

Fisher manufacturing teams also made a number of environmental breakthroughs in production processes. In Marshalltown, for example: • A powder-coating (painting) system collected and reused more than 95% of the powder over-spray. • A biofiltration system eliminated emissions in the painting area.


Last issue of The Governor newsletter in the monthly, eight-page format.

Type 1098-EGR district regulator, 128-PQ Series oil dump valves, LS Series signal converters and the RD221 and RD1111 recorders are introduced.

Series 1000 ac2 system introduced.

First Marshalltown Bulletin newsletter is published.

1977 New plant opens in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil.

Terry Buzbee (who later becomes president) is hired as a sales engineer. Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Movin’ On.” (Alladin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada)

Waldo W. Wizard IV, an animated character created by Lenn Redman, is used at the Movin’ On sales meeting, 1977

Interior view of the machine shop at Fisher-Brazil, 1977

• Bacteria used in water treatment was “trained” to eat the vapors from paint thinners and solvents, thereby helping to purify the air. • An ion exchange process removed metal contaminant from finishing process wastewater. • A below-ground vault provided storage of machine chemicals and waste oil.

• A coolant recycling process reduced the volume of waste coolant from 3,000 to 600 gallons per week. Employees in McKinney, Texas, received the Clean Texas 2000 award from Texas Governor Ann Richards. Sponsored by the Texas Water Commission, the award recognized the site’s efforts to reduce waste generation and, through recycling, to keep more

than seven tons of plastic and rubber out of local landfills. From 1987 to 1991, employees in Sherman, Texas, began to use recycled paper, reduced landfill use by 85 tons per year, and recycled 100% of hazardous waste generated. They received the state’s Altrusa Award for recycling and waste minimization.


1978 First ex-U.S. control valve repair operation opens in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. EH series valves, Design EZ valves, Type 1052 actuator, Type 8501 e ¯disc rotary valve, and Type 1083 handlever actuator are introduced.

Thirty-five year pin added to length-of-service award program. Men and women in Marshalltown drafting services number 125.

Color video camera and lights added to education center in Marshalltown.

First “(Hot) Dog Roast” hosted by May birthday boys in Marshalltown. College “co-op” education program starts in Marshalltown. Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Accentuate the Positive.” (Doral Country Club in Miami, Florida) Musical note composed of plus signs is used at the Accentuate the Positive sales meeting

Fun Facts About Fisher

Phil Mayberry making video training tapes, 1978

Circa 1920 - The original Type 1 pump governor was updated only once and the newer design was called Type 1B. During the Depression, Ray Engel reportedly accepted menial jobs and, on occasion, worked for free to retain his position. (He said he thought the company had potential.) A publication of the American Bowling Congress (October

1940 issue) featured an article on Fisher Bowling Leagues, bringing national recognition to the company’s three leagues and 200 employee bowlers. Fisher engineers backed their respective college teams with money. In October 1941, graduates from the University of Nebraska and from Iowa State University entered an agreement in which the losers would pay the winners $20

every time the two colleges met in competition. The agreement included football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, swimming, track, wrestling and even cross-country runs. Ray Engel was delegated to receive and disburse all the money! In 1942, Paul Elfers won the Marshalltown Golf Tournament at Elmwood, scoring an even par 72 in the finals.


1979 Fisher Controls Corporation of Delaware (FCCD) forms as a t venture between Monsanto and Britain’s General Electric Company, Ltd. (GEC). It combines Fisher Controls Company with portions of GEC located in Scotland, , West , Australia, Spain, South Africa and Singapore.

New computer-aided design drafting system installed in Marshalltown.

Headquarters moves to Clayton, Missouri.

First issue of The Valve Line newsletter is distributed to Sherman employees.

Edmond S. Bauer is named chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Production of control valves and regulators begins in Singapore.

Marshalltown drafter Jim Adkins

Nippon Fisher expands to 60,000 square feet of space.

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “The Charge of ‘79.” (Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada)

16 x 24-inch FB valve produced in Sakura, Japan

1945 - The oldest Type 1 ever returned to the factory was #101, built and shipped in August 1888 and installed in water service in Jefferson City, Missouri. It had operated reliably, without repairs, for 57 years! It originally sold for $36. In late January 1947, Marshalltown got 20 inches of snow and Fisher employees spent the night at work.

1961 - Fisher supplied Design C and Type 16532 high-pressure valves for a polyethylene plant . The valves were designed for pressures up to 50,000 psi—the highest rating for any valve to date. One Fisher ment in the mid-1960s showed a man leading a burro with a Design “U” Vee-Ball on its back. One customer sent in a copy of the ad on which he had penciled,

“No wonder your deliveries take so long.” Another customer asked “Which one is the representative?” Fisher Controls achieved its most amazing business turn-around in 1987, producing operating income of $26 million compared to a $66 million loss in 1986. Fisher ended the year with $750 million in net sales (excluding sales to Monsanto).


1980s 1980 Centennial celebration! A black-tie event is held at the Martha Ellen Tye Playhouse in Marshalltown for the management team, at which opera singer Beverly Sills hosts of the New York City Opera. Around 9,700 Fisher retirees, employees and family picnic and tour the five facilities in Marshalltown.

PROVOX distributed control system and Type 8550 rotary valve introduced. Dave Brown

Nearly 900 employees, their families and community visitors tour the McKinney, Texas, plant. Coraopolis plant celebrates the centennial with an open house and picnic. Sherman plant holds its first open house for employees and their families.

Fisher Valves Are Where?

Centennial issue of the Governor

Employees number 11,000 worldwide (3,200 in Marshalltown). Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, butterfly manufacturing plant closes and production moves to Marshalltown, Iowa and Sherman, Texas Some regulator products transfer from Marshalltown, Iowa, to McKinney, Texas. Sales meeting utilizes the theme “We’ve Only Just Begun.” (Innisbrook in Tarpon Springs, Florida)

Woodstock plant celebrates its own 25th anniversary along with the centennial celebration.

1897 - A Type 1 was installed in the Marshalltown Water Works.

1936 - Level controllers and diaphragm motor valves sent to a petroleum refinery in Iraq.

1907 - Fisher products were being applied worldwide, including applications on German navy battleships and in underground electric railways in London.

1939 - Fisher diaphragm motor valves were installed in the steam and oil lines of the Union Pacific Railroad’s fleet of steamliners (locomotives).

1935 - 17 Type 57s provide steam control in a new high school’s kitchen in Louisville, Kentucky.

1941 - Pump governors and diaphragm control valves serve a refinery in Chungking, China, that was completely

underground (for protection from enemy bombers). 1943 - Fisher sent liquid level controllers and diaphragm motor valves to repair Russian industrial areas devastated by German bombs. 1962 - Fisher-Marshalltown produced 297 identical Type 1008-A valves for a chemical plant in Italy and its mercury heat exchanger system.


Fisher Controls attends the first U.S./China trade event in Beijing.

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Staking Our Claim.” (Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, California) McKinney plant completes a $4.3 million expansion.

1981 Process instrumentation (PI) group in Marshalltown starts move to Austin, Texas.

Toluca, Mexico, plant doubles in size. Annual sales are $650 million.

This ment’s headline reads: “Out here it’s always Fisher time”

1990 - An oil company in the Middle East ordered $28 million worth of Fisher equipment to control gas-oil separation processes (GOSP), seawater treatment, water injection and water pumping stations. 1991 - Marshalltown supplied an SS-250 valve with two-stage trim for the Stratfjord B, an oil platform in the North Sea, off the coast of Norway.

1992 - Fisher-Marshalltown designed and built a series of critical service valves for the Alaska pipeline. The order included some giants: a 2500pound Design EHT antisurge valve, four 30-inch Design FBGT globe valves and a 60-inch butterfly valve (made in North Stonington). 2002 - The first $1M fabricated body valve resists corrosion in a chemical plant in Zhuhai, China.

2004 - Fisher supplies general and severe service control valves for a new oil-from-tarsands project in Alberta. 2005 - A series of large compressor antisurge valves serve natural gas projects in Brunei and Qatar.


1982 Name changes to Fisher Controls International, Inc. (FCII). Logo changes.

Manufacturing begins in Vichy, .

Shrink-wrapped parts kits help sell up to 20 control-valve parts for one price, under one part number. Ed Bauer es away and Robert E. Flynn succeeds him as president and chief executive officer of FCII. Arthur French is named chief operating officer.

Sherman plant expands 80,000 square feet. Sold Milwaukee Die Casting Company. Marshalltown’s Governor Road plant begins operating a new electro-deposition painting and plating line.

The Show in the Business

First-time sales meetings in Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

P

articipation in industry tradeshows remains an important component of any good marketing strategy. Tradeshows provide a chance for Fisher personnel to show off new products, to see what competitors have to offer, and to strengthen relationships with key customers. From the tradeshow in Paris in 1900, to a power industry show in New York City in 1938, to ISA International in Chicago in

1993, the Fisher valve division puts the show in its business. In addition to setting up exhibits, suppliers like Fisher host parties for customers, present technical papers, and even serve on the boards that organize the entire event. Big shows, such as those organized by the Instrument Society of America, are competitions in themselves. Making a splash and, hopefully, a lasting impression requires a

serious investment of time and money. For many years, Fisher not only had the largest exhibit in center court but also a big attraction of some kind. At the 1986 ISA show in Houston, the star of the Fisher exhibit was a 30-inch, 2500pound valve transported from Marshalltown to Texas. In New Orleans (Oct. 1990), Fisher rented space at the Aquarium of the Americas, which had not yet opened to the


First butterfly units ship from Marshalltown.

Fisher Controls and Fahd Altobaishi and Company form a t venture for a manufacturing and service center near the Dammam/Dhahran oil gathering center of Saudi Arabia. Plans for this facility were later abandoned.

First telecommunications line for the new order processing system (OPS) begins operating. New 732-page OPS price book is mailed.

James Matherly, right, assembled the Type 7600 butterfly valve and Kirk Starr, left, mounted the 352 electrohydraulic actuator Sheik Fahd Altobaishi, seated left, and Ed Bauer, president, seated right. Standing from left, Isa Kazmi, Dennis Green, Tom Shive, Jim Loveridge and Don Lambert, 1981

Type 585-CE-3611 corrosive service control valve package is introduced.

Stockroom employees collating

public. Over two nights, 4000 visitors enjoyed the aquarium, a seafood buffet and a jazz band. In the fall of 1993, thousands attended three global tradeshows that launched the company’s new corporate image. The theme for the new exhibit was Fisher-Rosemount: Managing The Process Better. The key shows were ISA in Chicago, Illinois; Chem-Asia in Singapore; and BIAS in Milan, Italy.

The 2001 ISA show in Houston featured an interactive display introducing FOUNDATION ™ fieldbus technology. The only thing better than going to customers is getting them to come to you. In 2003, Emerson Process Management began hosting a private conference called the Emerson Exchange. “In this forum, the focus is on us,” says Bruce Johnson of the Process Systems & Solutions

division in Austin, Texas. “The Exchange provides face-to-face time with actual s of our products and technology as well as an unequaled opportunity to share best practices and application successes.” In 2004, more than 1,500 people from 42 countries attended the Emerson Exchange in Grapevine, Texas.


1983 Monsanto buys out GEC’s one-third share in Fisher Controls International.

1984 New 45,000-square-foot electronics technology center opens in Austin, Texas.

Asia-Pacific headquarters is established in Goldhill Square, Singapore, to sell products in Japan and Korea under the title Fisher Controls South Pacific Ltd. (Headquarters moved to Bukit Timah in 1986)

South Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme “Planned Marketing.” (Pavilion Intercontinental Hotel in Singapore)

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Winner Takes All.” (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Fisher Service Company operates six repair centers in North America, led by Wendell Seaman.

North Pacific sales conference. (Sekitei Inn in Atami City, Shzuoka Prefecture, Japan)

The Fisher team in Latin America welcomes new sales offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru.

International ash tray

The Process Leader newsletter debuts. The quarterly tabloid is distributed to Fisher sales personnel worldwide.

Witness to Innovation

DV Series Vortex Flow transmitters, PROVOX batch-control, Type 8570 Series fire-qualified control valves, and Type 2390 transmitter are introduced.

D

ave Taylor, an instrument products marketing manager in Europe, retired in July 2005 after more than 48 years with the Fisher-Medway organization. He began (1956) as an apprentice with Elliott Bros (London) Ltd., located at Rochester in the United Kingdom. The site manufactured Fisher valves (A and Y bodies, HS, DB, 249) and instruments (including 4150, 2500, 2516, 3560) under license

and sold them to the world outside of the Americas. “Teamwork and respect for individuals at every level of the organization made FisherMedway a great place to work,” he said. “We were proud to have product leadership and customers who respected us as Fisher, No Equal . . . and we all wanted to keep it that way.” Three events stand out in Dave’s memory of a long and rewarding career.

(1) He led the U.K. sales team who won the first £1 million contract (1977) for control valves. The order came from a large refinery in Kuwait. (2) As a PlantWeb marketing manager for the Fisher valve division, he served on a crossfunctional team introducing field-based architecture to Europe, Middle East, and Africa. “It is difficult to get riskaverse customers to try new technology, but we found plants


Design V250 Hi-Ball valve and the Design V500 rotary valve are introduced. Design V500

Fisher Controls purchases the rights to quartz technology patents by acquiring Novex, Inc. and Technologies Associates, Inc.

Australia organization moves to new office and manufacturing facility in Wetherhill Park. Parent company Monsanto “standardizes” on PROVOX and subsequently completes system upgrades at Chocolate Bayou (Texas), Indian Orchard (Massachusetts), Soda Springs (Idaho), Pensacola (Florida), and Anniston (Alabama) plants. First video teleconference.

Supermarket stock handling in Wetherhill Park, Australia, 1984

in the U.K., Holland and Scotland willing to install FIELDVUE digital valve controllers and ValveLink ® 1000 software as trial units. Those early trials gave us valuable on how well the instruments and software were performing on live processes over time. We, along with our customers, learned to appreciate the value and potential of advanced control and diagnostics technology.”

(3) During the same period, Dave and the Fisher-Medway team made a presentation to an engineering contractor using PlantWeb digital plant architecture. “Seeing the power of this technology via a projector and screen left them literally speechless,” he said. “That reaction was frequently repeated during subsequent demonstrations.” PlantWeb ® projects in

Europe, Middle East and Africa grew slowly at first, but through diligence by the country teams involved, it has grown considerably and consistently ever since. Dave considers himself privileged to have witnessed the introduction of this innovative PlantWeb ® architecture.


1985 Art French succeeds Bob Flynn as president.

4200 Series electronic position transmitter and software packages for boiler control are introduced. Fisher Service centers in LaPorte, Texas; Edmonton, Alberta; and Chicago, Illinois, begin facility expansions.

Cowdenbeth, Scotland, plant merges with the Rochester, U.K., plant to form the Medway plant (Strood, Rochester, Kent).

Fisher-Marshalltown employees produce and ship a Type AR titanium valve. Wellness committee forms in Marshalltown. Quality Improvement Process is implemented. 1986 Six global business units are established: process instrumentation (PI), final control systems (FCS), measurement instrumentation (MI), services, SUNVIC, and PERMEA, Inc. (skid-mounted systems).

Acquisition of Posi-Seal International (North Stonington, Connecticut) adds high-performance butterfly valves to the product range. It’s a wholly-owned subsidiary.

James Teegarden is appointed group vice president of FCS, which includes valves and regulators.

Asia-Pacific Milestones

Fisher-Marshalltown Education Center trains more than 2,000 students.

1965 - ed GEC Elliot in Singapore. Started valve assembly operations at Bukit Timah. 1969 - Established Nippon Fisher as a licensee plant and sales office. 1974 - Opened Sakura plant. Opened Singapore sales office. 1979 - Changed name to Fisher Controls Singapore. Signed sales representative agreements with PT Control System (Indonesia), Transwater Tenaga (Malaysia), Kanit Engineering (Thailand) and

Pearl Engineering (Pakistan). 1984 - Signed sales representative agreements with Instrumentation Engineers, Trigon Management (Philippines), Lumax International (Taiwan) and Custom Controls (New Zealand). 1987 - Signed sales representative agreements with Centralian Controls, Pacific Controls, Southern Controls and Western Process Controls, all in Australia.

1990 - Signed sales representative agreement with KOFAC (Korea). 1992 - Established China office. Signed sales representative agreement with Loftyman Engineering. Formed t venture to produce and sell in China. 1993 - Signed sales representative agreement with AMP Mo Services (Brunei). 1994 - Opened Bao’an Emerson Machinery Equipment (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. Sales offices in India opens.


North American customers receive a belt buckle when they purchase a Type 399.

Assembly of traditional PI products moves into the Olive Street building in Marshalltown.

75,000-square-foot addition to staging center and 86,000-squarefoot operations building open in Austin, Texas.

Type 399 “Easy Joe” regulator, Type 1250 actuator, Design GL valve, and Design RSS lined globe valve are introduced. Serial number 10,000,000 assigned to a Type 667 diaphragm actuator. Leicester, England, facility opens. Fisher-Marshalltown forms Project Wildcat as its first cross-functional team to develop products for remote control and data acquisition.

Team Up newsletter is distributed to employees of Fisher Controls in Asia-Pacific. The Fisher Service Company opens a new center in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and breaks ground for an expansion in Mansfield, Ohio.

The Leicester, England, facility comprises a 50,000-square-foot single-story production area and two, two-story office blocks, each comprising 27,500 square feet

1995 - Fisher Sanmar Ltd., a t venture plant, opens in India. 1996 - Signed sales representative agreement with Star Controls (China). 1997 - Started manufacturing instruments at the Singapore Valve Instruments Manufacturing (SVIM) plant. Closed all China direct sales offices. Signed sales representative agreement with South China Controls. 1999 - Opened Nilai, Malaysia, plant.

2000 - Started product testing, evaluating, deg and engineering in Asia-Pacific. 2002 - Opened the PlantWeb Dynamic Performance Loop in Singapore. Re-aligned the China representative territories. 2003 - Introduced business units. Opened sales office in Beijing. Signed sales rep agreement with Sino Process (China). 2004 - Opened the wholly-owned Wuqing plant. Signed sales

representative agreement with Viet-Tech (Vietnam). Singapore office received the region headquarters award from the Singapore government. SVIM plant won the Emerson president’s award for operational excellence. 2005 - Ended the t venture Tianjin Fisher Controls Valve Co., Ltd. Started the Wuqing technical center. Added firmware and electrical research and engineering capabilities in Singapore.


1987 Acquired EXAC Corporation, a flowmeter manufacturer in California. Project Wildcat becomes the Remote Automation Systems (RAS) group. The first Remote Operations Controller (ROC) is introduced.

North America sales meeting utilizes the theme “The Competitive Edge.” 5,000 people attend the Zero Defects Day family celebration in Marshalltown. Austin celebrates first Zero Defects Day.

Control valve diagnostics, Type 3660 positioner and Type 3661 positioner are introduced.

Visor with “Q” for quality logo

438 McKinney plant employees attend a Zero Defects Day celebration, 1986

A Quality Culture

B

ill Fisher was fond of saying “Quality people, quality products and quality profits.” That philosophy became a guiding principle of Fisher management. In the 1980s amid industry restructuring and increased global competition, Fisher Controls took a hard look at its processes and performance. Doing business in 47 different countries was not easy. The company needed to be sensitive

to the local marketplace, but at the same time, develop and share a common, global vision. Then-president Jim Teegarden investigated and introduced a quality improvement process (QIP) that was designed to improve consistency, efficiency and conformance to requirements. The quality improvement process was based on seven principles that defined a company’s values: leadership;

information; strategic planning; resource utilization; quality assurance of products and services; results; and customer satisfaction. Fisher Controls set out to measure its performance in these areas, identify and implement improvements and establish quality partnership alliances with key customers. Jim Teegarden led Fisher-Marshalltown employees through the QIP training and implementation. Subsequent


1988 Fisher Controls signs a parts distribution agreement with Caterpillar, Inc.

FIRSTVUE ® valve sizing program and Type S400 house service regulator introduced.

First parts ship from the FisherFAST ™ service warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee.

Fisher-Marshalltown initiates “quality partnering” relationships with engineering contractors and suppliers.

UNIVOX control center and CVS series valves are introduced. The Indian sub-continent is added to the Asia-Pacific region. North American sales meeting utilizes the theme “The Right Stuff.” The keynote speaker is a retired astronaut. (Grenelefe Resort in Grenelefe, Florida) The manufacture of printed wiring board assemblies moves from Marshalltown to Leicester, England. The company signs an agreement to market desuperheaters and steam specialties made by CON-TEK, which is in Atlanta, Georgia. 1989 Larry W. Solley succeeds James Teegarden as group vice president of FCS.

The RAS group phases out of SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) and becomes Field Automation Systems (FAS). The manufacturing operation in Toluca, Mexico, embraces Statistical Process Control for zero-defect, low-cost production. Nippon Fisher and Fisher-Singapore receive the Monsanto President’s Safety Award.

Four Toluca employees

Asia-Pacific sales conference held at the Bayshore Resort Hotel in Pattaya Beach, Thailand.

Art French leaves and Bob Flynn takes the role of president again.

leaders, including Larry Solley and Bob Flynn, expanded the process throughout North America. Ultimately, quality improvement principles were introduced to worldwide Fisher offices. Larry said, “It is only quality if it can be measured, tracked and related to customer requirements and expectations. Our goal was to enhance a culture within Fisher of total quality and continuous improvement.”

Three awards in 1991 illustrate the impact of QIP. Fisher Controls was one of three companies in Austin, Texas, to receive a citation for “Significant Progress in Total Quality.” Fisher Controls and PufferSweiven (local business partner in Houston, Texas) received a supplier appreciation award from Bechtel, Inc. (a global engineering contractor) for outstanding service provided as

part of a QIP partnership. Another engineering contractor, Fluor Daniel, chose Fisher Controls (from 10,000 possible suppliers) to form a QIP partnering relationship. Today, Emerson Process Management is recognized around the world as a leader in total quality and a supplier with the resources and commitment to meet customer needs.


1990s 1990 William W. Landholt succeeds Larry Solley as group vice president of FCS. Larry Solley succeeds Robert Flynn as chief executive officer and is elected chairman.

North America sales meeting utilizes the theme “Shaping Tomorrow...Today.” (Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, Arizona) Bill Fisher es away. The 500,000th Type 546 electro-pneumatic transducer is sold.

ENVIRO-SEAL ® valve packing system and FlowScanner valve diagnostics system introduced.

Fisher Instruments, Too

Left to right Larry Schrum, Mike Mason, Dale Gummert, Ed Baumbach, Roger Hanus, Jerry Roberts, Denny Brown, Lawrence Catherwood, Bev McFarland, Barb Ohrt, Don Drew, Jerry Williams, Bill Landholt and Terry Buzbee at the Governor Road plant,1990

O

ne of most successful Fisher instruments was the 4100 Series Wizard controllers (1939) developed to provide proportional or on/off pneumatic gauge pressure control. The proportional band of the later 4100s was from 2 to 50% of the Bourdon tube range. The instrument provided easy change over from reverse to direct-acting and a weatherproof housing. Series 4190 Wizard controllers are still selling today.

The Type 546 current-topressure transducer (1965) was equally successful, with sales of one-half million units by 1990. Chrome-plated units (#500,000 and #500,001) were used by the display department for tradeshows. The Marshalltown 546 assembly group had a party for the product’s 25th anniversary. One paper mill customer called the 546 “old reliable” and another “the Timex ® of I/Ps”

because it takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’. Recent introductions include the Type L2 liquid level controller (2002), the Type DL3 digital level transmitter (2003), and the Type i2P-100 electropneumatic transducer (2005).


“The Contract” painting is presented to Fisher Controls by Vinson to commemorate their 50-year relationship. A handshake between Bill Fisher and Bailie Vinson (founder of Vinson Process Controls) symbolizes the successful business partnership between Fisher and its sales representatives.

Fisher establishes a service company in Maracaibo, Venezuela. This facility (Fisher Controles de Venezuela S.A.) shares office space with the local representative, Conind de Venezuela, owned by Puffer-Sweiven. The Marshalltown valve manufacturing group begins focused factory restructuring and a 14,000-squarefoot addition to the Governor Road plant. Heritage committee forms in Marshalltown. It is responsible for identifying, recording, collecting, preserving and managing exhibits of the company’s history.

Fisher Service Company opens a repair center in Beaumont, Texas.

easy-e valve race car brochure, 1990

n 1991, Larry Solley, chairman and CEO of Fisher Controls, announced the creation of the J.W. Fisher Leadership Award in memory of the company’s late chief executive, Bill Fisher. The last of the founding Fisher family to lead the company, Bill died on October 11, 1990. Larry stated, “Bill’s leadership during a critical growth phase of the company gave substance to the fundamentals of quality and customer commitment.

His legacy, foresight and leadership enabled Fisher Controls to build and maintain strong customer relationships, dedicated employees and a commitment to quality.” Since then, the J.W. Fisher Leadership Award has been presented yearly to the Fisher employee or sales representative who best represents those ideals. Individual winners of the award receive an engraved

bronze miniature of the sculpture A Dedication to the Future by Christian Petersen. Bill Fisher commissioned the fullsized statue in 1961, and it found a permanent home in the fountain outside of the Fisher Community Center in Marshalltown.

The J.W. Fisher Leadership Award

I

Cover of magazine shows Fisher products used in pulp and paper processing, 1990


1991 Asia-Pacific headquarters moves to new 50,000square-foot facility in Singapore (Pandan Crescent).

New plants open in Rijswijk, The Netherlands and Haan, .

Control News newsletter is distributed to valve division employees in Singapore.

Research and engineering center is added to Singapore plant. Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme “Shaping Tomorrow...Today.” (Westin Plaza Hotel in Raffles City, Singapore)

Excellence in Manufacturing

T

he Governor Road plant in Marshalltown focuses on low-volume and specialty products in two general categories: standard assemblies (valves 4 inches or smaller) and special or heavy assemblies (valves ranging from 6 to 24 inches, weighing up to 10 tons, and/or severe service valves). Severe service valves make up about 18% of total GR output and include Fisher patented lownoise and anti-cavitation trims.

Marshalltown also produces Level-Trols, rotary specials (via a new value stream), steam conditioning valves and desuperheaters, as well as butterfly styles. More than 550 GR employees machine, assemble and ship about 1,000 complete valve assemblies each week (2005). Another 150 people provide via inventory control, customer service, ing, scheduling and maintenance.

Ed Merwald, leader of engineered products, says, “By providing Fisher engineered solutions, Emerson will lead the market in solving customers’ most difficult and critical valve applications.” Plant manager Bob Berger added, “Marshalltown employees take pride in building the best the industry has to offer. They work to maintain high Fisher standards and those standards to the next generation.”


7,100 Fisher employees worldwide, 50 manufacturing and service centers in 22 countries, and 180 sales offices in 75 countries.

Medway plant in England receives ISO 9000 accreditation to international quality standards. ENCORE re-manufactured valves program introduced.

Fisher Service Company facilities open in Montreal, Canada; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Benicia, California. North America sales meeting utilizes the theme “Fisher Goes Hollywood.” (Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California)

V150 valve, V200 valve, V300 valve and Accu-Pressure ® gas tank blanketing regulators are introduced.

Fisher-Marshalltown’s environmental stewardship led to waste reduction and community awareness, 1992

Fisher mobile van is the computer communications center for Iowa State University’s solar car, 1990

asty substances flow through Fisher valves: oil mixed with tar and sand; molten polymers; wood pulp; corrosive seawater; and sulfuric acid, just to name a few. Valve plugging, leaks or failures in these applications can have expensive and hazardous consequences. Fisher severe service engineers work with local sales personnel on the specifications, and then the engineered products team in Marshalltown

builds the valve to meet those tough application requirements. The assemblies often include specialized components and trim options to address a host of problems. Dirty service trim (DST), for example, minimizes valve plugging from entrained particles. WhisperFlo ® trim reduces valve noise. Cavitrol trim helps prevent the potentially damaging effects of cavitation and vibration. Fisher-Marshalltown manu-

facturing also provides the custom alloys and testing procedures required to make these valves reliable and cost effective. In short, the Fisher valve division puts its 125 years of experience to work on these specialty valves, and no one designs or builds them better.

Engineered Products

N


1992 Emerson purchases Fisher Controls from Monsanto. Fisher Controls has 7000 employees; annual sales of $928 million; representatives and direct sales offices in 75 countries; 23 manufacturing plants in 13 countries; and 60 training, manufacturing and service centers in 22 countries.

J.W. Fisher Soccer Complex opens in Marshalltown next to Governor Road plant.

Fisher Controls Hong Kong Ltd. and Tianjin Fourth Automation Instrumentation Factory form a t venture company in Tianjin, China.

Asia-Pacific sells 108 sets of remote operations controllers to the waterflood oil and gas field at PT Caltex.

Nippon Fisher’s Sakura team es the 1,500,000hour milestone of continuous labor with an accident- free and disaster-free record.

Fisher, Rosemount, Johnson-Yokogawa, Siemens and others form the interoperable systems project for the development of a common international fieldbus standard. 1993 Fisher-Rosemount ™ family of companies is formed. It’s structured into eight divisions: Fisher valves, Fisher regulators, Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Rosemount Analytical, Brooks Instrument, Rosemount Measurement, Micro Motion and Xomox. New logo used. Tianjin Fisher Controls Valve Co., Ltd.

Three manufacturing plants earn ISO registration: Marshalltown, Iowa; Woodstock, Canada; and Cambridge, Canada.

Dave Hunter succeeds Bill Landholt as president of the Fisher valve division.

Vee-Ball attenuator, emergency shut-off valve, a turbine by steam valve and Design SC cryogenic globe valve are introduced.

Emerson

I

n 1890, two Scottish-born brothers, Alexander and Charles Meston, founded Emerson Electric Manufacturing Co. in St. Louis, Missouri. The two inventors developed uses for alternating-current electric motors, which were new at the time. The company was named after former Missouri judge John Emerson, who financed the enterprise and became its first president. Early products included an

electric fan introduced in 1892, followed by forced-aircirculating systems in 1910. The Depression brought Emerson close to bankruptcy, but a hermetic motor for refrigerators revived it. By 1973, annual sales had climbed to $800 million. A commitment to acquisitions and global expansion also played a role in the growth of Emerson’s process control business. In 1992, Emerson bought

Fisher Controls International from Monsanto for $1.275 billion. Today, Emerson has five primary business segments: appliances and tools; process management (including the Fisher valve division); climate technologies (compressors and thermostats); industrial automation (motors and drives); and network power. Emerson worldwide sales in fiscal 2004 were $15.6 billion.


First World View newsletter is distributed to Fisher-Rosemount employees worldwide.

New plant opens in Bao’an, China.

The Fisher-Marshalltown site has more than 1,700 employees. 1994 FIELDVUE DVC5000 Series digital valve controllers and the Design SC cryogenic valve are introduced. Fisher Integrated Responsive Sales Tools (FIRST) is introduced. North America sales conference utilizes the theme “Growing to Win” (Marshalltown, Iowa)

CON-TEK Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia acquired. CON-TEK makes steam conditioners and desuperheaters. FIELDVUE DVC5000 digital valve controller

n 1993, Fisher brand strength was demonstrated when Emerson Process Management created the Fisher regulator division as a separate operating unit. Headquartered in McKinney, Texas, the Fisher regulator division produces and markets pressure regulator products globally and brings $300 million to Emerson each year. Today, the Fisher regulator division has manufacturing

locations in McKinney, Texas; Elk River, Minnesota; Nuevo Laredo, Mexico; Sorocaba, Brazil; Gallardon, ; Selmsdorf, ; Bologna and Milan, Italy; Shanghai and Chengdu China; and Singapore. The division also proudly continues the Fisher tradition of innovation, most recently introducing the new EZ family of pressure regulators. The Types EZR, EZL and EZH enjoy wide acceptance in the natural gas

industry, providing pressure control from wellhead to pilot light. Meanwhile, the Type 95 and Type 98 pressure regulators (2004) and the Type SR stainless steel sanitary pressure regulator set the standard for industrial applications. The Fisher regulator division has a stake in the LP-gas market and in 2005, Emerson acquired TESCOM, a manufacturer and marketer of high pressure regulators.

Fisher Regulator Division

I


1995 H.D. Baumann Associates of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, acquired.

Fisher Sanmar Ltd. facility opens in Chennai, India. It is a t venture between Fisher Controls and Sanmar Engineering Corporation.

Baumann facility (built in 2002) and 20th anniversary celebration in 1997

Charles F. Knight, chairman of Emerson, visiting the t venture facility, 1996

FIELDVUE DVC5000 Series digital valve controllers are introduced to the Asia-Pacific market. Second building addition to the Pandan Crescent facility in Singapore. Employees go on-line via internal Web pages and the Internet.

Baumann

CON-TEK plant in Atlanta, Georgia, increases its production capacity.

1995 - H.D. Baumann Associates acquired for their low flow, sanitary, corrosive service, industrial HVAC and general service control valves to enhance the Fisher product portfolio. Baumann 51000 series low flow valve and 24000 series bronze Little Scotty valve are introduced. 1997 - Baumann celebrates 20 years of business at the Boston Red Sox’s Fenway Park.

1999 - Baumann 24000C/D carbon and ductile iron series valves introduced. 2002 - Move to new 50,000-square-foot facility at the Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 2003 - Baumann 24000SVF series valve introduced. 2004 - Portsmouth becomes the

prime ship for the Fisher FIELDVUE DVC2000 digital valve controller in North America. And the name officially changes to Fisher Controls International LLC. 2005 - First valve division site to go live with the Oracle ® system. Portsmouth becomes the assembly and prime ship site for the Fisher GX valve in North America. 2005 marks 28 years of successful Baumann business.


1996 Terry Buzbee succeeds Dave Hunter as president of the Fisher valve division.

New manufacturing plant opens in Szekesfehervar, Hungary.

PlantWeb ® digital plant architecture and FloVue ™ final control system introduced. Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme “Performance Through Differentiation.” (Singapore Regent Hotel) 1997 John Berra becomes president of the Fisher-Rosemount group of companies.

View of Szekesfehervar plant, 2005

1998 New plant opens in Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil. WhisperFlo trim and POSI-SEAL quarter-turn actuator introduced. First live satellite broadcast, Fisher-Rosemount Live. Marshalltown Center Street plant and Woodstock plant close.

North America sales meeting utilizes the theme “We Expect to Win.” (Westin Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida) Asia-Pacific sales WhisperFlo trim conference utilizes the theme “Fisher, No Equal.” (Phuket, Thailand)

oday, Fisher control valves, instruments and regulators are part of a comprehensive portfolio of integrated field devices. These control devices — in conjunction with automation systems, bus technology, and software—make up the award-winning PlantWeb digital plant architecture. Recent studies show that industrial plants producing $500 million in annual revenue give away an estimated $5 to

$10 million because of poorly performing devices and systems. It follows then that improvements in equipment monitoring, control and communication would lead to cost savings and increased plant efficiency. With a PlantWeb solution, Emerson Process Management delivers true plant optimization. Today, Fisher is one of Emerson’s 60+ industry-leading brands. Collectively, as well as

individually, the customer-facing divisions sell a host of integrated products and services to automate and optimize any plant operation. In any given field or process industry, Emerson Process Management is the company that customers rely upon.

Valves Part of PlantWeb

T


2000s 2000 Emerson spends $600 million on new technology including FOUNDATION fieldbus and PlantWeb architecture.

1999 New plant opens in Nilai, Malaysia.

New products represent 36% of total sales. 900-plus page Control Valve Catalog is published.

Pewter coaster gift for Nilai’s grand opening

Medway, U.K., plant closes and operations move to Cernay, . Asia-Pacific sales conference in Singapore utilizes the theme “Team Fisher.”

Fisher Digital Diagnostics

Valve Dog posters promote core products, 1999

I

n the old-model Christmas lights,the failure of one bulb caused the whole string to go dark. The fix meant checking each bulb, one by one. Well, in the mid-1980s, the failure of a single control valve could shut down an entire process line. Traditional maintenance meant removing valves, one by one, for visual inspections and repairs. Fisher engineers, like Bill Fitzgerald and Ken Junk in

Marshalltown, turned their expertise to control valve diagnostics and predictive maintenance. Bill envisioned a valve performance signature curve using digital data collected with a personal computer. The evolution of digital communications led Ken and the development team to design on-line Performance Diagnostics that pinpoint failures and provide recommended actions.

Product introductions like the FlowScanner valve diagnostic system (1990) and the FIELDVUE DVC5000 Series digital valve controller (1994) enabled s to document control valve performance and use that data to plan maintenance, rather than react to failures. Additions to the FIELDVUE product family include DVC2000, DVC6000 and DVC6000f. In 2005, the 500,000th FIELDVUE DVC was sold.


2001 Fisher-Rosemount becomes Emerson Process Management, one of Emerson’s eight businesses.

2002 PlantWeb dynamic performance loops open in Singapore and Cernay, . Fisher-Marshalltown manufacturing employees produce the company’s first $1 million digital control valve for a chemical project in China. Type L2 liquid level controller and Type D2 dump valve introduced. Publications stockroom and other groups move into the remodeled Center Street building in Marshalltown.

FIELDVUE DVC6000 Series digital valve controller, Type BV500 ¯ eplug ® valve and FIELDVUE DVC6000 for safety instrumented systems are introduced.

Type L2

Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme “A World of Opportunities.” (Putrajaya Mariott in Malaysia)

Plants adopt lean manufacturing processes to reduce waste and speed throughput. Emerson launches on-line, Web-based training opportunities for its worldwide sales personnel (the Emerson Learning Connection) and customers (PlantWeb University). Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme “Returning to Growth, Building the Foundation.” (Hong Kong)

Steve Pelch, Alfred Lee, Danny Nelson, Terry Buzbee, David Farr (CEO of Emerson), John Berra, Dave Hunter and Peter Schoner at Singapore’s PlantWeb dynamic performance loop, 2003

n 2002 and 2003, the Fisher valve division opened PlantWeb Dynamic Performance Laboratories in Marshalltown, Iowa; Cernay, ; and Singapore. These labs are working process control loops that include a variety of Emerson Process Management field devices linked to a DeltaV ™ automation control system. Each loop is surrounded by all the resources needed to establish remote video

connections between the Fisher site and any customer facility in the world (where there is access to the Internet). Via these “live” connections, dynamic performance lab technicians demonstrate product capabilities and test results, assist customer training, and help sales personnel win projects. Each lab represents a significant investment and a fresh opportunity to promote the value of digital control

valves and diagnostics. The Marshalltown site alone uses its PlantWeb Dynamic Performance Lab for presentations to more than 450 different customers each year. Fisher products also play an important role in the Austin, Texas, PlantWeb demon-stration system, which is 18 feet long and weighs 6000 pounds. This demo is a working model of an oil and water separation unit.

Seeing is Believing

I


Fisher-Marshalltown manufacturing focuses on engineered products.

2003 Design GX control valve, Design D4 control valve, FIELDVUE ® Performance Diagnostics, Design V150S slurry Vee-Ball ® valve, and Type DL3 digital level transmitter are introduced. Fisher-Marshalltown shares engineering resources with the Valve Automation Division. VAD focuses on electric and hydraulic actuators.

Worldwide manufacturing sites attain ISO 9000:2000 registration. New PlantWeb performance lab and technical conference center open in Marshalltown. Sherman plant receives the Emerson President’s Plant Operational Excellence Award.

Design GX ment

Slurry Vee-Ball rotary valve

Sherman employees, 2003

GX Control Valve

T

he GX valve was a real team effort from the start. Market research and extensive customer interviews were conducted in Europe and Asia. Design responsibility was shared between Marshalltown, Chatham (U.K.) and Cernay. Materials staff in Marshalltown, Szekesfehervar, Singapore and Nilai helped identify the best supplier for each component. Finally, the Singapore and

Szekesfehervar staff teamed up to design and build a new advanced flow line for assembly of the product using the latest technology and lean manufacturing methods. This assembly line was designed to produce 7,000 valves per annum based on 2 shifts with 3 operators in each shift. The operators perform valve and actuator assembly, seat-leak and friction testing, instruments mounting, final

assembly testing and packaging in this assembly line. “The GX and DVC2000 is the biggest opportunity we have had to impact the European market since the introduction of FIELDVUE,” said Trevor Sands, vice president of valves EMA. The Szekesfehervar plant manufactures the GX for EMA requirements (2005). The GX process line is the centerpiece of the Wuqing factory (2005).


2004 Wuqing plant opens in Tianjin, China.

Automation s, responding to CONTROL magazine’s reader survey, name Emerson Process Management their top supplier. Emerson is ranked among FORTUNE magazine’s “Most ired” and well-managed companies. 2005 Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme “Mission Possible.” (Hyatt Regency in Macau, China) North and Latin America sales conference utilizes the theme “Best Bet.” (Las Vegas, Nevada) The event helps celebrate 125 years of process control experience. Personnel from five divisions (valves, regulators, I&VS, solutions & services, flow computer division) gather to represent the original Fisher Governor Company. FIELDVUE DVC6000f (fieldbus) digital valve controller and Type i2P-100 electro-pneumatic transducer are introduced. Facilities around the world celebrate 125 years in business.

FIELDVUE DVC2000 digital valve controller is introduced. Annual sales in China and Latin America grow 25% in fiscal year 2004. North Stonington, Connecticut, manufacturing plant closes and production moves to Marshalltown, Iowa and Sherman, Texas. Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” (Bangkok, Thailand)

n 2005 the Fisher valve division issued posters to employees that defined the customer promise, mission and core values. Our customer promise: Emerson delivers the true potential of your process through an unequalled combination of PlantWeb architecture, industry expertise, and Fisher best-inclass products and technologies...without fail, everywhere.

No equal in people and opportunities No equal in sales: $1B in sales by 2010 No equal in customer care: 90+% on time delivery No equal in innovation: 40% new products by 2010 No equal in operational excellence: exceed Emerson financial results No equal in global market participation: leadership positions in every market

We are driven to solve customer problems We innovate, change and continuously improve We act with integrity, ability and ethics in everything we do We are ionate about safety in our products and in our workplace We value and respect our customers, sales and supplier partners We are a workplace where people, teamwork and quality do make a difference

Fisher, No Equal Everywhere

I

Artist’s rendering of Emerson facility to be built in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Looking to the Future, By Terry Buzbee


T

hough nothing is certain, we expect that, even at the ripe old age of 125, the best years of the Fisher valve division are still to come. We will continue to earn and strengthen our #1 position in the world—an enviable place to be. The patterns of success, the dedicated people and the exceptional products that brought us here will power us ever upward for many years to come. Control valves are, and will continue to

be the foundation of the process control industry. The markets that buy from us are vibrant and growing. Our associates and customers are loyal. And, Emerson will help us increase the already incredible market strength of Fisher control valves. This solid and proven relationship gives us great faith in the future. Fisher design engineers are hard at work developing the next wave of innovative valves

and instruments. Becoming “bigger and better” at what we do is both our collective destiny and our reasonable expectation. The last 125 years have been a memorable and rewarding journey. 2005 is a record year by all measures, the historic strength of North America has been duplicated around the world. Thanks to everyone for your continued efforts to make Fisher, No Equal, Everywhere. Our best days are truly yet to come.

Fisher History 5jy4j

Overview 6h3y3j

More details h6z72

Related Documents 543cg

Fisher History 5jy4j

Fisher 2n2n53

Valvulas Fisher 2y3h2u

Fisher Io 395r1

Fisher 95h 6p6f3b

Fisher House 46r1

More Documents from "Edwing William Salhuana Mendoza" 6w4c16

11482j

Fisher History 5jy4j

Diccionarios Para Ingenieros 1f812

Danzas Internacionales 6p6u1v

Medios De Comunicacion Y Musica Maya 6z622e

11482j