A História da Fisher Controls

© 2005 Fisher Controls International LLC All Rights Reserved.

Research, writing and design by Marcy Patterson and Lesley Smid

Fisher Controls International LLC205 South Center Street

Marshalltown, Iowa 50158 USA

This book is dedicated to the thousands ofemployees and sales personnel who have made

Fisher® brand products known throughout theworld. We are particularly pleased to have thisopportunity to present this book to you. We hopeyou find your work rewarding and that you makemany friends in this organization. Your years ofemployment are appreciated. It is because of thefine personnel that we have gained such anenviable place in which to work. We wish you goodhealth and years of enjoyment. Our best days areyet to come.

This book is a compilation of photos, heritage items, memories, facts andexperiences from 125 years. We apologize for any errors or inaccuracies. Thanks toall who contributed to this book, especially the reviewers, Fisher heritagecommittee members, 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 andDeltaV are marks owned by one of the companies in the Emerson Process Managementbusiness division of Emerson Electric Co. Emerson and the Emerson logo are trademarksand service marks of Emerson Electric Co. All other marks are the property of theirrespective 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

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

1887 40 pump governors are sold.

1888 Partnership takes in aninvestor, Erastus A. Harris.

First product catalog is handwritten.

4 | The Fisher Story

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

William forms a partnership withGeorge Henry Beebe, who owns awooden, two-story machine shop onthe corner of First Avenue and Linn Street in Marshalltown, Iowa,United States.

4 |

1880s

The Fisher story began in thelate 1800s with a talented

young engineer and inventorwho dedicated himself to solvinga process control problem.

Born in Cambridgeshire,England, in 1838, William Fishercame to America as a boy of 10.His family settled along theMississippi River near Clinton,Iowa. Young Williamdistinguished himself as amechanic in a small engine shopand learned as much as he could

about steam, the major sourceof power at that time.

In 1876, at age 38, Williamaccepted a job as the chiefengineer for the city ofMarshalltown, Iowa, and helpedinstall the water works. When araging fire threatened the leveearea of town, William was calledfrom his home to maintainwater pressure for the town’sfiremen. Exhausted from hand-throttling the steam-drivenpumps through the night, he felt

there must be a better way tocontrol the pumps and maintainthem at a constant pressure.

Many months and trials later,he was satisfied with one of hisproduct designs—the FisherType 1 constant pressure pumpgovernor (which is actually aregulator). In 1880, he appliedfor a patent and began tomanufacture his invention in abuilding on the corner of First Avenue and Linn Street.

Will

iam

Fis

her

an

d H

is T

ype

1

William Fisher, sixth from left, and employees, 1897

William Fisher

1900 William incorporatesFisher Governor Companywith $20,000 from George Beebe and $10,000from George R. Estabrook.Capital stock is divided intoshares of $100 each.

Machine tools in thefactory include one turretlathe, four engine lathes,one single-spindle drill, aplaner and a buffing wheel.

Employees receive first bonus checks.

Display at the Exposition Universelle Internationale inParis, France.

694 pump governors sold.

1904 William Fisher andhis wife, Martha,participate in theLouisiana PurchaseExposition and earn a gold medal.

The Fisher Story | 5

1890s

1893 Display at theworld’s ColumbianExposition fair inChicago, Illinois.

1897 Factoryemployees number 10.

1899 First distributionof dressed chickens andgeese to employees atThanksgiving time.

Sketches of new designs and alterations are drawn onthe floor with chalk.

The shop in which the firstpump governors were made

was owned and operated by aMarshalltown machinist namedGeorge H. Beebe. He andWilliam, along with two localinvestors, formed the “first”company called Fisher & Beebe.The fledgling enterprise wasincorporated in 1900 andrenamed the Fisher GovernorCompany.

Whether by intent oraccident, very little is written

about George’s involvement inthe company. He is mentioned,however, in the 1942 edition ofYou & Your Company.

George Beebe was involvedin the company’s managementin part because William Fisherwas occupied as chief engineerat the Marshalltown soldiers’home. When William died onNovember 29, 1906, Georgebecame the president.

Born in 1853 in DeWitt, Iowa,George Beebe was a farmer and

traveling salesman beforedrifting into Marshalltown andits machine shop, whicheventually he owned. Georgewas an investor and director of the Brauer Acetylene Lighting Company.

George had many lodgeaffiliations and was active in theIowa branch of the NationalAssociation of Engineers.

1900s

Columbian Exposition coin, 1893

Calendar and price list, 1901

Type 1 installed on areciprocating pump

William andMartha Fisher at anequipment show.The sign reads:Pioneer of the FisherSteam PumpGovernor, Nuf Sed.

William

Had

a Partner

1905 Vertical actuators, steam traps andback pressure valves are introduced.

Annual sales reach $44,000.

1906 George Beebe becomes presidentwhen founder, William Fisher, passes away.

1907 Employees number 28, andthere are at least 27 competitors.

Products are installed in German battleships as well asunderground electric railways in London.

1908 The entire factory, power plant and office arehoused in one building.

A 24-page catalog lists the Types 1through 9 pumpgovernors and Types 10and 11 reducing valves.One line reads, “The Fishergovernor in the hands of apurchaser is as good as a gold dollar.”

1909 Ralph B. Reasonersucceeds George Beebe aspresident; George returns in 1913.


He,

To

o, S

hal

l Ser

ve

Two other Marshalltown men,not members of the Fisher

family, served as president ofthe Fisher Governor Company inits early years.

Ralph Reasoner graduatedfrom Purdue University inIndiana with the class of 1898and began his career as aninspecting engineer for the Ft. Wayne Gas Company. Movingto Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1909,he became a stockholder in theFisher Governor Company, took

an active role in its manage-ment, and was elected presidentin September 1909. In 1912, hereported the company wasprospering with employeesreceiving wages of $16,000. The father of three daughters,Ralph also served the localYMCA and Presbyterian church.

Lyle W. Browne was vicepresident and general managerof the Fisher Governor Companybefore he became president in1930. Little is known about his

background except that he was aa local carpenter. He ultimatelyleft Marshall County.

George Estabrook, amanufacturer and investor, hadprincipal holdings in the JasperCounty Coal Company. In 1896,he also purchased Erastus A.Harris’ interest in the FisherGovernor Company. At the timeof his death in August 1908, hewas secretary of the FisherGovernor Company.

Assemblers in the factory, 1910

Type No. 33steam trap

Original factory building is now brick veneered


1910 Sales reach $60,000.

1913 George Beebe becomes president, again.

First sales representative is established in Cleveland,Ohio (Tomlinson Steam Specialty Company).

Catalog grows to 32 pages; includes the Type 12reducing valve and Type 14 relief valve.

1914 Sales representative is established inIndianapolis, Indiana.

1915 Harriet Beebe becomes president when herhusband, George, passes away.

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

1916 Martha Fisher, William’s widow,becomes president when Harriet Beeberesigns.

1918 Draftsmen complete the first detailed product drawings.

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

1910s

Martha Fisher and HarrietBeebe each “represented

the holdings of her latehusband” in the Fisher GovernorCompany for several years,although little was documentedabout their activities ordecisions as companyshareholders and members ofthe board. It’s fair and accurateto describe these women asremarkable and pioneering, ifonly for reaching beyond theirtraditional roles.

Martha Ann (Loucks) Fisher(1840 to 1923) or Aunty Fisherwas known throughoutMarshalltown for her sharpmind, love of quilting and variedinterests in community affairs.Mother of three, Martha alsoreared her infant grandson,Clarence Bates, who became aprocess control engineer.

Harriet (Read) Beebe (1850to 1929) came to Marshalltownin 1879 from Ohio. She had fivechildren from a previous

marriage when she wed localmachinist, George Beebe. LikeMartha, she was a devotedmother, church member andcommunity volunteer.

Two women, small in staturebut strong of character,influenced the direction of theFisher Governor Company andearned a place in this historybook. In an era when fewwomen had wage-earning jobs,two women in Marshalltown,Iowa, led a company.

Jasper Fisher, third from left, and employees

Mad

am Presid

ent

1923 Jasper Fisher becomes president when hismother, Martha, passes away.

Sales representative is establishedin Denver, Colorado.

Serial number 100,000 assignedto a Type 11A steam reducing valve.


1920s

1920 Sales representative is established in Richmond, Virginia.

1921 Sales representative is established inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania.

Circa 1922 All newly marriedemployees receive a 26-piece setof silver, while parents of twinsreceive a twin-sized baby carriagewith the company’s compliments.

John Westlund, patternmaker, 1916

In 1913, William and MarthaFisher’s son Jasper became

secretary of the company. A former cigar salesman, Jasperknew the importance ofmarketing products andsecuring sales outlets. Heestablished the company’s firstindependent sales agency in1913, making Fisher GovernorCompany one of the firstcompanies to sell productsthrough local manufacturer’srepresentatives.

Jasper also launched aninternational advertisingcampaign, ensuring that Fisherproducts would be marketed“throughout the civilized world”

and known “under all suns andin the language of all men.”

In 1923, Jasper becamepresident of the company. His genial disposition and soundbusiness leadership guided theFisher Governor Companythrough the Great Depression.Capitalizing on the economicrecovery, Jasper updatedmachinery, completed anaddition to the factory, andintroduced another wave of new products.Ja

sper

Fis

her

“T

he

Skip

per

”

Cover of bulletincatalog, 1927

Set of silver

1924 First Fisher bowling league and baseball teamsare organized.


Ken Puffer (who later co-owns Puffer-Sweiven inHouston) develops thecompany’s firstnatural gasregulator, the Type 735.

Overhead pulleysand power beltsdrive machines inthe shop.

Jasper Fisher, first row, sixth fromleft, with employees, 1922

In 2005, Jasper’s network ofsales representatives is still

going strong. The Fisher valvedivision is now part of EmersonProcess Management andrepresentatives are called localbusiness partners (LBP). Theirstyle of doing business—servinglocal customers with supportfrom global resources—remainsthe same. With LBPs and directsales offices worldwide, EmersonProcess Management’s annualsales will reach $4.3 billion.

LBP sales personnel aregraduate engineers withextensive knowledge of Fisherproducts and applications, aswell as a personal commitmentto customer service. Most spendtheir entire careers with Fisherand develop long-term personalrelationships with localcustomers.

Jim Montgomery, senior vicepresident of sales, NorthAmerica (2005), said, “Becausewe deal with sophisticated

products and complexapplications, our salesorganization is more importanttoday than at any time in ourhistory. Our field sales personnelkeep up with advancingtechnology, certifications,regulations and the breadth andscope of Emerson resources.Customers demand much fromthem, and they deliver, whateverand wherever the need.”

Jasper’s Sales N

etwo

rk

50th anniversary.

Wizard ® I controller isintroduced.

Product line includes pumpgovernors, pressure regulators,relief valves, traps, drainers,strainers, float valves, levervalves, liquid level controllers,vacuum regulators, power plantspecialties, oil industryspecialties, auxiliary actuatedpressure controllers, and gasindustry specialties!

Sales representatives are established in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Birmingham, Alabama;Atlanta, Georgia; and Detroit, Michigan.

Raymond A. Engel (who later has a Fisher buildingnamed after him) joins the research group.

$160,000 isspent to setup andconductvalve bodycapacitytests in theresearchdepartment.

Alignmentcapacitychartsproduced.


In 1924, Fisher-Marshalltownorganized and sponsored its

own bowling and softballleagues. The Fisher softball team(pictured on page 9), led bypitcher Ray Wildman, won threeconsecutive championships anda winner’s cup. (Fisher didn’t winthe softball tournament againuntil 1945.)

Employees’ interest inathletic pursuits and friendlycompetition grew to includeping pong (1938), basketball

(1940), volleyball, golf (1941),cribbage (1943), archery (1944)and a gun club (1960).

1941 was a busy year forFisher athletes. The bowlers won some money in the Iowa State Bowling Tournament.The Red Raiders basketball team won a tournamentsponsored by the local YMCA,defeating Lennox in the finals.And 75 employees signed up to play in the first table tennis tournament.

League participationdwindled through the war years,but during football season,various Fisher groups heldforecasting contests and offeredtickets to college games asprizes for the winners.

Fisher women also gotinvolved, organizing the firstWomen’s Bowling League(1943) and teams to compete inthe Industrial Girls baseball andbasketball (1944) leagues.

1930s

1925 Employees receive life insurance benefits.

1928 Fisher GovernorCompany acquires the ApexRegulator Company ofDecatur, Illinois.

Service regulators and LP-gasregulators are introduced.

1930 Lyle W. Browne succeeds Jasper Fisher aspresident for a short time; Jasper returns in 1932.

Spo

rts

Enth

usi

asts

Drawing of the FisherType 36 vacuum fluidextractor, 1928

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


In the 1900s, when orderscame in by telegraph, the

Fisher Governor Companyestablished its own code systemin an effort to shorten eachmessage.

Code words pertaining toshipping instructions, forexample, began with the letter“A.” Pipe sizes began with theletter “C” and so on. Phrasessuch as caustic carbonate ofsoda solution became “Malison”and the calendar date of June 8

became “Nulet.”Within the code, sections

were arranged alphabetically sothat code words were easy tofind when preparing or de-coding a telegram.

The un-coded messagewould read “Ship us freightcollect two size two and one halfinch type one extra heavyflanged angle cast iron bodiesduromite trimmed boilerpressure one hundred sixty fivepounds cold water discharge

pressure one hundred ninetyfive pounds.”

The coded message was:Abbess Backbite Caddy DabbleEductive Fight Feme MeshyFirmet Fetal.

One thing was simple. Whensending a cable, the followingaddress was sufficient: FisherMarshalltown Iowa.

1931 Neil T. Chadderdon (who later becomespresident) is hired as the comptroller.

Extensive sales network in North America plus sevenforeign representatives.

Drawing of Fisher buildings in Marshalltown, 1931

The Teleg

raph

Co

de


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

Sales representatives are established in Portland, Maine and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1933 A new catalog is published and businessimmediately improves.

A W

om

an’s

Per

spec

tive One of the most talented

“word processors” thecompany has ever had is FrancisWitham Caputo.

Her career at the FisherGovernor Company began in1937, when the company hadfewer than 200 employees andone location. She retired in 1978from a company with severalthousand employees at 13manufacturing, service andsubsidiary facilities in half adozen countries.

Francis shared her thoughtsabout Fisher Controls at thetime of her retirement.

“When I came to Fisher onJanuary 25, 1937, young, naiveand frightened, things were verydifferent. Typewriters weremanual and my first trans-cription was done with amachine that used cylindricalrecords which had to be shavedafter each use. One time theunfortunate in charge of thisoperation mistakenly shaved a

number of cylinders that hadn’tbeen transcribed—disaster!

“We wore conservative suitsor dresses, hose with seams upthe back, and when we dressedup, we wore hats.

“Still fresh in my memory isthe girl, bolder than the rest ofus, who wore a red sweater towork one day. The boss stoppedat her desk and asked her whatcolor the sweater was. We neversaw it again!

“We were meek, addressed

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

Sales representative is established in St. Louis, Missouri.

Sales meeting photo, 1935

1935 Logo change.

First Fisher sales meetingheld in Marshalltown.

300 active type numbers andhundreds of specials.

Employees number 250.

Type 730 service regulator is introduced.

Solid gold emblems awarded to employees torecognize years of service.


our superiors as ‘Mister’ (at leastuntil instructed otherwise) andwere relentlessly conscious thatthese were the Depression yearsand we could easily be replaced.

“Then came the war, whenwe wore bobby socks and rodebicycles to work to save gas. I worked enough overtime tobuy my first (and last) fur coat.

“It was suggested I offersome words of advice to youngpeople at Fisher, those juststarting their careers. You have

good jobs with a fine company.Give it the very best you caneach day, and I’m confidentyou’ll get more than the bestback. If a time comes when itseems to you it didn’t work outquite that way, you still have acomforting thought—you tried.”

Francis had a Governorcolumn called “From WhomHeaven Protects,” whichappeared regularly for severalyears. She also wrote the skitsdelivered at the 1950 and 1955

sales meetings in Marshalltown.Women employees in the

1930s and 1940s were called“office girls” and served asstenographers, secretaries,receptionists and switchboardoperators.

Emblems show a bust ofWilliam Fisher supported by thewings of good fellowship andthe hour glass of time

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

Sales representativesare established inChicago, Illinois andCambridge,Massachusetts.

Type 77 pressurereducing valveintroduced.

1937 Newadvertisingcampaign.

Jasper Fisher’s wife,Edna, establishes the 10-year Club with 44 chartermembers.

The 10-year Club operates a refreshment counterknown as “TheCanteen” tofinance thesick benefitplan. Itemsinclude milk,fig pies,Copenhagen ®

chewingtobacco, andother treats.


Sales representative is established in Baltimore, Maryland.

1938 Neil T. Chadderdon becomes president whenJasper Fisher passes away.

President Neil Chadderdon poses withan 8-inch Type 57T valve that weighs2.5 tons, 1941

During World War II, theFisher Governor Company

ranked high among UnitedStates manufacturing plantssupporting the war effort. Infact, it was #161 out of some30,000 companies includingairplane factories, arsenals andordinance works.

In July 1942, companypresident Neil Chadderdonannounced that theMarshalltown factory would goon a 7-day week, running three

shifts and including threeconsecutive Sundays.(Employees got the fourthSunday of the month off.) Neilcommented that even theincreased hours associated withthe “Valves for Victory”campaign would not in itselfmeet the demand of war orders.

More than 500,000 valvesand instruments rolled throughthe plant during a five-year(1938 to 1943) period, and thatequaled the company’s total

production since 1880! For that unprecedented

volume and unrelenting pace ofproduction, employees receivedin 1943 the coveted Army-Navy“E” award, the country’s highestrecognition for superiorproduction achievements ofvital war materials. Only 3% of allbusinesses in the United Statesreceived this honor.

Mustering all their energyand patriotism, employeesovercame tremendous obstaclesW

ar T

ime

Pro

du

ctio

n


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

Logo change.

Serial number500,000 assigned to a3/4-inch Type 1 pumpgovernor.

Design A globe valvebody and Type 361 filterintroduced.

1937 trifold brochure

Gas regulator assembly, 1938

to meet nearly impossibledelivery requirements. Stillunder wartime pressure andworking at peak capacity, theyshipped another 500,000 unitsduring the three years ending in1946 and received two morestars on their Army-Navy E flagin 1944 and 1945.

In 1942, employees alsoreceived a Minute-Man Flagalong with their bonus checks.The flag was presented torecognize employees’ 100%

participation in the payrolldeduction plan for the purchaseof war bonds. During thepresentation, E.W. Carson,chairman of the committee incharge of war bonds in MarshallCounty, congratulated Fisheremployees for their “fine spirit ofcooperation and patriotism.”

Type 470-Acontrol valve

Employees bike to conserve gasoline, early 1940s

Addition to the south portion of the plant iscompleted (building 10).

1940 New power plant opens next to the plant.


1940s

1939 Wizard ® ISeries 4100 and4300 fieldmountedcontrollersintroduced.

Employees launch the “Valves for Victory” campaignand produce valves for use in the production of shipsand planes.

Sales representatives are established in Minneapolis,Minnesota; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Dallas, Texas;Tulsa, Oklahoma; Seattle, Washington; Louisville,Kentucky; and Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

One of the famous dress-up parties occursbefore Christmas 1939 at theMarshalltown Coliseum. A total of 668Marshalltown employees and guestsattend. Bonus checks are concealed in theprograms and Iowa’s Governor, George A. Wilson, is the guest speaker.

The

Man

hat

tan

Pro

ject

In 1943, the Fisher GovernorCompany received a

high-priority, top-secret projectfrom the U.S. Government thatwas reportedly vital to thesuccessful conclusion of the war.The Marshalltown employeesinvolved had to sign secrecyagreements and be willing towork serious overtime.

The Manhattan Project wasan attempt to duplicate, on amassive scale, what had onlybeen done on a laboratory

table—to build the world’s firstfull-scale nuclear reactor and amassive chemical complex toextract plutonium. A franticpace of production was drivenby fears that the Nazis wereworking on the same thing.

For Fisher-Marshalltownemployees, it meant workingquickly, secretly, on newdesigns, with new materials, foran application never tried norfully understood. Ray Engelprovided technical leadership.

Verle Hunt designed the firstFisher butterfly valve for theproject. And, Tom Montiethserved as foreman of a specialproduction crew.

It took the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers and the DuPontCorporation a little less than twoyears to build the plutonium-producing complex. From there,the first shipment of plutoniumwent to New Mexico wherescientists assembled and testedthe world’s first atomic bomb.


Sales reach $2.5 million.

First Western Union teletype machine is installed tospeed 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.

1942 First identificationbadges are used.

Level-Trol ® Series 2400-248 liquid levelcontrollers areintroduced.

Sales representatives areestablished in Phoenix,Arizona; and Charlotte,North Carolina.

Fisher components enable the Norden Bombsight (an analog computer) to drop bombs accurately fromaircraft at high altitude. (This is unconfirmed; the project was top secret.)

First identification cards for sales representatives.

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

From 1941 to 1946 TheGovernor newsletters featured

the Fisher Service Roll, listingthe names of the 295 employees(by May 1946) called to militaryservice in World War II.

The newsletter included aregular column titled “With theMen In Service” as well aspersonal war reports fromPrivate John Mullen, Jr., who waspromoted and transferred fromthe U.S. to posts in the BritishIsles and Belgium.

Guest speakers came toMarshalltown to encouragemore production and share therealities of modern war with thelocal audience.

The 10-Year Club madearrangements with the R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company toprovide free smokes for the menin the service. Employees couldpurchase cartons of cigarettes(at $1.70 each) and distributethem to loved ones via the U.S.Army’s Service of Supply.

Several Fisher-Marshalltownsoldiers received Purple Heartsfor their service, including EarlEygabroad (machinist) and TomShive (who later became Fisherpresident). Staff Sergeant FrankHelberg (gas regulatordepartment) died in action(September 1944) during theliberation of France, as didDonald Diggins (turret lathe-brass room) of pneumonia inItaly (May 1945).

Fisher H

on

ors Its So

ldiers


1943 U.S.governmentawards Fisheremployees thefirst of four Army-Navy “E” awardsfor outstandingproduction duringWorld War II.

Coca-Cola Company honors war workers bybroadcasting its “Victory Parade of Spot Light Bands”from Marshalltown.

Employees buydefense bondsand stamps tosupply UncleSam with funds.

Serial number 1,000,000 assigned to a Type 4357TWizard controller.

Parts checking department organized.

First customer request for air cargo shipment.

70 women work in the factory to produce “Valves forVictory.”

When Jasper Fisher died in1938, Neil Chadderdon

became company president.Board members includedJasper’s widow, Edna, whoultimately succeeded Neil aspresident in 1944.

Florence Edna Baughman wasborn in Canton, Illinois, in 1879.Six feet tall, Edna sang andtaught music in New York beforemarrying Jasper Fisher in 1903,moving to Iowa and becoming amother. She encouraged all four

of her children to play the piano,to paint, and to become “doers of the world and nothearers only.”

As president of the FisherGovernor Company (1944 to1954), Edna helped organize the25-Year Club, the first factoryschool, and the purchase of newmachines for the “Valves ForVictory” campaign.

Shortly before Edna’s deathin 1960, Bill and his two sistersstarted the Gramma Fisher

Foundation in memory of theirmother. Since then, the incomefrom her holdings (commonstock in the Fisher GovernorCompany) has been used forcharitable, religious and culturalprojects. It is said that theGramma Fisher Foundationbecame the largest privatedonor to opera, supportingproduction companiesthroughout the world.

Edn

a:B

elo

ved

Gra

mm

a

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

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


1944 Edna Fisher succeeds NeilChadderdon as president.

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

Design D body and Type 14000regulator are introduced.

Paul Elfers is named vice presidentof sales and consults for the U.S.Atomic Energy Commission.

Sales representatives are establishedin Memphis, Tennessee and Kansas City, Missouri.

Production office area, 1943

Jacob Eige (served 1899 to1943) was the fourth

employee hired, making $2 perweek. He became the plantsuperintendent and vicepresident of production.

Don Elder (1918 to 1962)was long-time personneldirector at Fisher.

Ken R. D. Wolfe (1927 to1963) knew the gas industry anddeveloped the LPG and “brassfittings” business.

Gilbert Blue (1932 to 1972)

wore bow ties, played trombonein the Fisher band and became asenior buyer in purchasing.

Glenn Brockett (1935 to1970) was the Fisher GovernorCompany’s chief engineer andvice president of sales.

Vernon “Red” Wansley (1937to 1981) joined Fisher at age 16and reportedly “worked everyjob” in the factory.

Roy Joens (1936 to 1982) ledthe plant engineering andresearch teams.

Jim Boyd (1938 to 1979)served as head of productioncontrol (1944) and factorymanager (1952) through manyfacility expansions.

Rudy Ponder (1942 to 1963)was the company’s treasurer.

Bill Bestmann (1948 to 1975)led Woodstock (1958),Coraopolis (1966), andinternational sales (1970s) inMarshalltown.

Mem

orab

le Ch

aracters


1945 First Swedish sales office isestablished in Stockholm.

Factory whistle blew to indicate the end ofWorld War II. The factory shuts down andemployees celebrate.

Employees number 745.

307,227 units produced in a single year.

J.W. “

Bill

” Fi

sher

As the oldest son in an affluentfamily, “Bill” Fisher (born on

July 30, 1914) had the resourcesand freedom for creativepursuits. As a young man, hewas far more interested in operaand the arts than in running hisfamily’s company. While heattended Iowa State Universityas an engineering student andstudied musical composition, hisyounger brother, Charles AllenFisher, was an active participantin the Fisher Governor Company.

When Allen was killed in a caraccident in 1940, Bill accepted ajob in the finance department.When his mother retired in1954, he became president.

Though reluctant to don themantel of leadership, Bill wore itwell, guiding the companythrough a post-war era of rapidgrowth and technicaladvancement. He was describedas creative, proud, professional,energetic, responsive, far-sighted and dedicated.

Bill expanded Fisherparticipation in internationalmarkets and establishedfacilities overseas.

For the employees at homehe initiated pension plans andpaid vacations.

Known as Bill to allemployees, he wore coloredsweater vests and wing-tipshoes. He had a male secretarybut Francis Caputo was hisstenographer of choice.

Flow test area in the Center Street factory, 1943

Bill Fisher and his son,Russell, pulling the whistle


Lumber shortage in United States causes worry for thebox house crew.

Paid vacationplan isestablished.

1946 Firstschool for salesrepresentativesconvenes inMarshalltown.

25-Year Club is formed.

Fisher Governor Company enters a float in the Iowacentennial parade.

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

Since the early 1940s, factory,regional and on-site schools

have provided a critical face-to-face liaison between thecompany and its customers.

Dorothy Hellberg, currentdirector of educational servicesin Marshalltown says, “Trainingnot only helps increaseawareness of Fisher productsand services but also promotesthe values of quality, service,and innovation that have madeour company great.”

Two training sessions, inparticular, have a long-standinghistory and reputation withemployees and customers: GasControl Conferences andFundamentals School.

Course content of GasConferences ranges from newregulation devices to sizingcriteria to over-pressureprotection. These five-daycourses have also includedfactory tours, hands-onworkshops, classroom lectures

and discussions with industryprofessionals.

The first “Fun” school, held in1946, was called FundamentalPrinciples of PressureRegulators. More than 20 salesengineers from across the U.S.attended this eight-day school inMarshalltown. Since then, “Fun”school has become a rite ofpassage for new employees andfield sales personnel.

Edu

cation

al Services

Fundamentals school testing, 1946

Harold Lathrop, left, andWilliam Smith


1948 40,000-square-footaddition to the northwestcorner of the plant completed(building 12).

Type 98 gas regulator, Type 99gas regulator and Type 530Gismo microflow control valveare introduced.

Tom Shive (who later becomes president) starts in thepurchasing department.

Sales representative is established in Montreal,Ontario, Canada.

Employees may voluntarily deduct from payroll fortheir savings plans.

Ho

liday

Sp

irit

Retaining the culture of asmall-town company, Fisher-

Marshalltown enjoys fondAmerican traditions through theholidays. Such traditions beginsmall and grow.

In December 1934, JasperFisher and his employeesgathered around the officeChristmas tree. He gave each ofthem a card containing a $5 bill.They presented him with apoinsettia. Fisher employeeshave been celebrating thus

every year since. Besides hostingannual employee Christmasparties, the company shares itssymbols of the season withvisitors and residents.

Beginning in 1962 amechanical, gold-suited Santapurchased by Bill Fisher on histravels, bowed to visitors in theMain Office building’s lobby.

In 1958, employees designedand constructed a life-sizedsleigh and reindeer set to hangabove and across Center Street

in Marshalltown. A new set wasbuilt in1978 to replace the olderone. It still flies today.

The company extendsholiday greetings in print as well.Each year, the graphics teamdesigns a corporate Christmascard for distribution to Fishercustomers, employees andassociates worldwide.

The Governor newsletter’sDecember issue includes holidayhappenings and a festive, four-color cover.

Gismo

Sales organization, 1948


1949 Signed a 50-year licensee agreement with Elliott Brothers, Ltd. (Rochester, Kent, England) tomanufacture and market products in England,Scotland, France, Australia, South Africa, WestGermany and Singapore. Company named FisherGovernor Company, Ltd.

Type 3500 Positrol valvepositioner introduced.

Awarded industry’s largestregulator contract for71,000 Type 730BTregulators delivered via 36 truckloads.

1950 Bill Fisher and the board of directors establishthe Fisher Governor Foundation, a charitable, non-profit organization to improve the cultural, civic, educational and charitable well-being of Marshalltown.

Sales representatives are established inLondon, England and Caracas, Venezuela.

Marshalltown factory first aid room completed.

Serial number 2,000,000 assigned to a Type 57T valve.

Production begins at the Rochester, Kent, England plant.

Through the holiday season(early November throughJanuary), employees also givegenerously to worthy causes andthe less fortunate.

Fisher makes annualcontributions to the local UnitedWay campaign and to non-profit organizations such asthe House of Compassion.

In recent years, Emerson andits worldwide divisions havemade donations to the familiesof U.S. troops serving overseas,

to disaster-relief efforts in NewYork City (after September 11,2001) and to South East Asia(after the tsunami in 2004).

Fisher-Singapore has hostedan annual dinner and dance forup to 700 local employees andtheir spouses. The eveningincluded a nine-course Chinesedinner, entertainment and prize drawings.

Holiday stationery, 1938

1950s

Left to right Jack Carter, Karl Biermann and Charley Kirchberger


1951 First mobile exhibit used in the U.S. Addition to southwest corner of the Marshalltownfactory (building 13) and new boiler plant (building 14) are completed.

Trained nurses are assigned to the Marshalltown firstaid room on all three shifts.

New equipment added to the Marshalltown researchlab includes an oscillator for vibration testing, a recording oscillograph for measurement of stressand a leak detector.

Research lab, 1951

Mo

bile

Exh

ibit

s

Over 40 years and one millionmiles, mobile exhibits

carried Fisher products acrossthe U.S. and Canada and gavenew meaning to the concepts oftraveling salesman and roadshow. John Rundall managed theprogram from 1968 to 1995,and representatives booked thevans for weeks at a time.

The first unit was a convertedmilk truck (1950s). The weightof its load limited speed to 35miles per hour. The cut-away

products inside, however, couldbe removed and carried intooffices, hotel suites ortradeshows—wherever asalesman might make his pitch.

The second-generation truck(early 1960s) featured hydraulicside panels that could be raisedto reveal the display units inside.

Mobile exhibit #3 (1972) wasa 28-foot, custom-built trailerthat visitors could walk through.Besides valves and regulators, itincluded a large rack of ac 2

instrumentation and a cabinetfull of product literature todistribute. The Fisher logo waspainted on the roof so thatvisitors in tall office buildingscould identify the vehicle.

The Bluebird motor coacheswere the most famous fleet ofFisher mobile exhibits. Each ofthe three units logged well over100,000 miles across NorthAmerica before being retired in 1995.

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


1952 OriginalMarshalltownfactory is torn down.

1953Marshalltownemployeesnumber 1200,making thecompany the largest employer in Marshalltown.

Registration of visitors to the Marshalltown factory begins.

1954 Bill Fisher succeeds Edna Fisher as president.

First annual summer carnivalheld at the Marshalltownfairgrounds.

Annual sales hit$17.9 million.

Bill Fisher’s designfor the famousMarshalltown Main Office building drapes

Left to rightWillard Miller,Ira Potter andLeonardCartwell withthree 16-inchType 462Lswith KKtopworks,1955

Between 1940 and 1974, Bill Fisher became

Marshalltown’s unofficial“patron of the arts.” He didmore to promote music, theatreand creative pursuits than anyother citizen in the town’shistory.

His wife, the former DorothyMeyer, was a member of theWomen’s Board of Lyric Opera inChicago and an accomplishedartist who helped select anddisplay the Impressionist Art

collection at the FisherCommunity Center.

In big ways (buildingtheatres) and small ways (buyingpianos for churches), Bill andDorothy Fisher shared theirgreat love of music and art with others.

Bill’s artistic influenceextended far beyond hishometown. For two decades, Billserved as a member of theBoard of Directors for theMetropolitan Opera Association

in New York City—both becausehe loved opera and because itwas “the best in the world.” He was also served as an advisorto the National Endowment ofthe Arts in Washington, D. C. At home, he composed musicand invested in Broadwayproductions.

In 1987, Bill received theNational Medal of Arts Awardfrom U.S. President RonaldReagan for his civic and culturalcontributions.

Patron

s of th

e Arts


1955 75th anniversary diamond jubilee sales meetingand celebration in Marshalltown.

Sales representativesgive Edna Fisher asilver bowl that hasdiamonds and a gold lining.

Marshalltownfactory has 88 turretlathes, 38 drills, 37engine lathes, 13milling machinesand 28 grinding machines.

915 Marshalltown factory and factory officepersonnel.

Oh

, Wh

at a

Par

ty

The Fisher family memberswere fun-loving and

generous, eager to share thecompany’s success and profitswith employees. As a result, theFisher Governor Company and inlater years, Fisher Controls,developed a reputation forhosting great parties.

Bill Fisher, who loved martinismade with Plymouth ® Gin,personally planned and hostedsome of the company’s greatparties.

In May 1955, for example,the company celebrated its 75thanniversary in Marshalltown inconjunction with the grandopening and dedication of thenew general office building.

In December 1956, 2000employees and guests attendedthe Christmas party at theTallcorn Towers (a grand hotel)in Marshalltown and danceduntil 1 a.m. Every employeereceived a $10 per year-of-service bonus plus a profit-

sharing bonus of two weeks’pay. (Bonuses that year totaled$300,000.)

For his birthday (July 30), Billoften treated the Marshalltownmanagement team to lunch ordinner at the Elmwood CountryClub. They, in turn, would gethim a gag gift. The best of thesegifts, according to Bill, was acrate of miniature bottles ofPlymouth gin.

Harold Minard stops the milling machine forrepresentatives’ wives touring the Marshalltownplant during the sales meeting, 1955

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

Thermo Instruments Company of Belmont, California,is acquired, adding electronic controls to the product range.

Type 657and 667spring-and-diaphragmactuator,Type S100serviceregulatorand Belmontlevelcontroller (first electronic instrument ) are introduced.

Bill Fisher donates land for a YMCA and YWCA buildingin Marshalltown.

Fresh, hot coffee served to Marshalltown factoryemployees on all three shifts.

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


Managers have made aneffort to share business

information with employees.Regular communication hasranged from site-wide meetingsto newsletters and, morerecently, satellite broadcasts.

Two of the company’s well-known publications are TheGovernor newsletter (since1934), produced by and forMarshalltown employees, andthe Control Line (circa 1955),featuring short and timely items

for field sales personnel. The formats, mastheads anddistribution methods of eachhave changed several times, butboth publications are still inproduction and heavily focusedon the Fisher valve business.

These newsletters serve asthe Fisher voice, a means torecognize individual and groupachievements, and as areference on the company’shistory.

The February 1940 Governor included a poemwritten 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 itmean to you?E-dited for your use, be sure and read itthrough.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.

Emp

loyee

Co

mm

un

ication

s


1956 Control SpecialtyCorporation is formed as amanufacturing subsidiaryin Houston, Texas, tosupply electrically actuatedcontrol elements to the oilproduction industry.

Type L100 SeriesCOMBOVALVEmultipurpose LP-Gas valveand 2300 Series liquid levelcontrollers are introduced.

Fisher aircraft transportsexecutives betweenMarshalltown and salesoffices and industrymeetings.

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

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

1957 Logo change.

Acquisition of ContinentalEquipment Company(Coraopolis, Pennsylvania)adds butterfly valves to theproduct range and a 42,000-square-foot plant. It isrenamed the Fisher Continental Division. COMBOVALVE

Phila

nth

rop

y

Asense of pride in andcommitment to the

community became a Fisherfamily trademark. In 1950, thefamily established the FisherGovernor Foundation, whichcontributed funds for collegescholarships in medicine, music,law, engineering and many otherfields. The organization alsoprovided financial assistance tochurches, hospitals, playgroundsand recreational facilities in thecommunities in which the Fisher

Governor Company operated.Millions of dollars have beendonated to support educational,health and cultural projectsworldwide.

Marshalltown schools andchurches have received pianosand kitchen appliances.Organizations like the UnitedWay, the American Red Cross,the Little League ®, the BoyScouts of America ® and theChamber of Commerce havereceived Foundation support.

The Fisher Foundation builtthe Fisher Community Center inMarshalltown in 1958 as alasting gift and tribute to itshometown. When not at IowaState University, renownedsculptor Christian Petersentaught art classes in theCommunity Center’s studio(1958 to 1960).

Bill Fisher commissioned himto create a statue of lastingmerit for the CommunityCenter. Christian agreed, and


Wizard IIpressurecontrollerintroduced.

Fisher Governorcommon stocksells to thepublic for$12.50 pershare.

Floating holidayestablished for Marshalltown employees.

Newly formed Gramma FisherFoundation supports thearts and honors the memoryof Edna Fisher. The Fisherchildren (Bill and his sistersMartha Ellen Tye and EmilyCartwright) got their love ofmusic from Edna.

United Auto Workersestablish a bargaining unit at the Fisher Continental Division.

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

though his health was failing, herallied to complete the 13-footbronze statue. “Dedication tothe Future,” unveiled in April1961, was Mr. Petersen’s lastsculpture. It now graces thefountain outside of theCommunity Center.

In 1969, the FisherFoundation also builtMarshalltown’s communitytheatre, named for Bill’s sisterMartha Ellen Tye.

Funds from the Gramma

Foundation, established tohonor Edna Fisher, built the“little” Fisher Theater on thecampus of Iowa State Universityin Ames. (Bill worked with thearchitects of all three buildingsin the Iowa State Centercomplex.)

In Marshalltown, Fisherdonated land for a YMCA(1955), an elementary school(1959), a youth soccer field (firstgames played in1992) and anew public library (2003).

These contributions andfacilities are lasting evidence ofthe Fisher family’s generosityand concern. Following theirexample, Fisher employeescontinue to volunteer their timeand money to communityprojects around the world.

Napkin artworkcreated for asales meeting

First internalsafety controlvalve withexcess flowprotection andelectronic leveltransmitter areintroduced.

Supermarketstock programintroduced,offeringshipment ofcertain

products within 36 hours.


1958 Bill Fisherannounces aseven-cent hourlywage increase in atalk toMarshalltownemployees.

Marshalltownemployeesmachine castingsfrom 40 differentfoundries andwork on a three-shift basis.

Conveyor system installed in Marshalltown plant.

Sup

erm

arke

t Pr

og

ram

The Supermarket Program(1958) was designed to

provide customers with 36-hourproduct delivery from stock.Fisher-Marshalltown employeesincluding Jim Coulter, Hap Ray,Ben Rector and Joe Gaskillmaintained a large inventory ofcompleted regulators, controlvalves, pilots and levelcontrollers—assembled, testedand ready for shipment.

Before computers, theinventory list was updated and

mailed (by U.S. post) to salesrepresentatives’ offices everyFriday afternoon. On Mondaymorning, each agent had acurrent list of the equipmentavailable for shipment. Orderssent by teletype, telegraph orphone were clearly marked“Supermarket.”

The first year in operation,the Supermarket averaged$2,000 per day in shipments andnever failed to deliver within 36hours, as promised. In its second

year, an overhead conveyorsystem (same type used inMarshalltown assembly today)was constructed to speed uptop-works handling, assemblyand transportation of heavierstock items.

Employees hear aboutwage increase, 1958

Equipment from the assembly departmentis brought to shipping by the conveyor

Wooden, painted Santa Claus hangs for the first timebetween the factory and office building over CenterStreet in Marshalltown.


Fisher GovernorFoundation buildsthe FisherCommunityCenter for thecivic, culturaland socialuses of theMarshalltowncommunity.

In 1930, the Fisher GovernorCompany introduced its first

level measuring device, the Type 246. Using a cantileveredspring to support the displacer,this product served liquid level,level interface or densityapplications.

A new rotary shaft conceptreplaced the cantilevered springand evolved into the first torquetube design. Patented in 1939,the torque-tube design was usedin the Type 248 (1942), and the

248 was used with the Type2400 Level-Trol ® Series. Some of these 248-2400 pneumaticlevel controllers are still inservice today.

The Type 248 torque-tubeassembly was redesigned (1946)by Verle Hunt and became theType 249. The 249 designremains essentially unchangedexcept for a few improvementsto its cages, heads and torque-tube arms. The Type 2500 SeriesLevel-Trols, used with the 249,

provide improved performanceand reliability. The 249-2500series made the Fisher a leaderin the level controls market.

The Type 2320 (1960), Type2340 (1970), and Type 2390(1984) series electronic leveltransmitters were introducedand used with the 249. TheFIELDVUE ® DLC3000 digital levelcontroller (2000) is the newestlevel device.

Flow lab in Marshalltown main office building, 1956

Level-Trol

®Lin

e


1959 New 35,000-square-foot manufacturinglicensee plant opens in Revesby, New South Wales,Australia.

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

1960s

1960 Acquisition of the Vickery Company (California)adds advanced ball-type valves to the product line.

Fisher-Vickery cryogenicball valves for missileservice are assembled inthe white room, whereextreme cleanliness isobserved. Models aresupplied to Rocketdyne’sbooster engines for thespace program.

-320° F liquid nitrogentests conducted near theMarshalltown boilerhouse for the cryogenicball valve used in thespace program.

Furthering an agreement between Elliot Automationand Manurhin, manufacturing begins in Mulhouse, France.

Inspectiondepartment,1960

Exp

and

ing

Ove

rsea

s

In the mid-1950s, the companybegan a period of tremendous

global expansion. It balancedlicensing agreements with directinvestments abroad.

By 1959, there were 69 salesoffices in the U.S.; 38 foreignsales offices; and 5 licensedfactories (Australia, Canada,Great Britain, France andArgentina). Inventoriesexpanded in relation to thegrowing product line and theincreased global volume.

To meet demand, Fisherlaunched an effort to expandinternational capabilities. Thisrequired a high degree ofcooperation at all levels, withdifferent languages, customs,regulations, laws and time zonesto consider.

Fisher-Marshalltownestablished an internationalsales department which servedas the focal point to coordinatesometimes complex, multi-national projects.

Bill Fisher sent managers onassignment overseas, givingthem a chance to gaininternational experience. Howsuccessful were these expansionefforts?

• Between 1955 and 1965,annual sales increased from$20M to $53M per year.

• From 1961 to 1962, exportsales increased 60%. Fisherreceived another E flag and

Sales representatives’ committee established.

Painting titled“The Peak ofProgress” ispresented toEdna Fisherfrom the salesrepresentatives.


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

Clock given tosales meetingattendees, 1960

Process control display truck, 1963

award from the government,but this time the E stands forexport expansion. This awardwas the first in the nation to anIowa firm.

• By 1963, the company hadestablished sales offices inAlgiers, Argentina, Austria,Belgium, Denmark, Finland,France, Germany, Great Britain,Holland, India, Israel, Italy,Jamaica, Japan, Lebanon, NewZealand, Norway, Puerto Rico,

Peru, South Africa, Spain,Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey andVenezuela.

• By 1967 skilled productionpeople were machining andassembling quality Fisherproducts in plants located inMarshalltown, Iowa; Coraopolis,Pennsylvania; McKinney, Texas;Woodstock, Ontario, Canada;and Toluca, Mexico, whichtotaled 920,000 square feet ofmanufacturing area. This was an

increase of 125% in less thanfour years. This manufacturingcapacity did not include theplants in Cernay, France;Cowdenbeath, Scotland;Rochester, England; Sydney,Australia; or Tokyo, Japan.

• By 1978, annual export salesrepresented almost a third ofthe company’s worldwide salesvolume!


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

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

Gai

nin

g A

Wo

rld

Vie

w

Before international travelbecame commonplace,

company executives weretraversing the world for bothwork and play. Many of themshared trip reports with readersof The Governor newsletter.

In 1936, Neil Chadderdonvisited Montreal, Canada;London, England; Paris, France;the Hague, Holland; and Berlin,Germany. He said thatEuropeans were confident ofthree things: “War is inevitable.

The U.S. will become involved.Fisher product exports intoEurope, already suffering fromhigh tariffs, will not improveanytime soon.”

In April 1957, Paul Elferssubmitted “Notes from aMemorandum Pad Re: Visit toSouth America” for publication.In it, he mentioned a non-stop,overland flight of 2,860 milesthat lasted 13 hours and tookhim from Caracas, Venezuela, toRio de Janeiro, Brazil, over the

Amazon jungle. During that trip,Paul also stopped in Brazil,Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru.

Glenn Brockett (August1957) made several trips toEurope to evaluate businessprospects there. He met withmanagers of Fisher GovernorCompany Ltd., based in the U.K.,and with customers in Germany,Italy and Austria. The Europeanmarket was expanding, he said,and Fisher would need to add

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

Bill and Dorothy Fisher in Egypt, 1960

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


Gold-plated 2-inchType 657A-3560with serial number3,000,000 isdisplayed atInstrumentSocietyexhibition.

1961 Newmanufacturinglicensee plantopens inMonterrey, N.L.,Mexico (Controles Automaticos). Operations move toToluca in 1965.

First Sales Sez newsletter is distributed torepresentatives; it was previously a column in TheGovernor newsletter.

Educational services and sales developmentdepartments are organized in Marshalltown.

Air conditioning addedto the Marshalltownfactory.

Fisher Man theme usedin advertising.

Sales meeting held atthe Tropicana Hotel inLas Vegas, Nevada.

An eight-foot statuetitled “A Dedication tothe Future” is installedin the pond at the Fisher Community Center.

more production resources in the region to keep pace with sales.

That same year (August1957), Ken Wolfe and his wifemade a six-week business trip toJapan and the Far East, arrivingnine hours late besides losingone full day crossing theinternational date line. Hisprimary objective was to locatea suitable organization tomanufacture Fisher products inJapan and to begin the process

of obtaining governmentapproval.

Ken and his wife sampled rawfish; drank sake; traveled byboat, plane, car, and overnighttrain; made stops in Japan andHong Kong; and covered a totalof 20,000 miles.

“The Orient is completelydifferent from anything to whichwe are accustomed,” he said. “InJapan, there are 96 millionpeople living in an area the sizeof California.”

Bill Fisher and his wife,Dorothy, took a winter vacationto the Middle East in April 1960,stopping in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.

Bill said, “It is amazing torealize how different the Arabworld is from ours, and at thesame time, how little it haschanged in thousands of years.”

While in Egypt, they touredthe pyramids and rode twocamels named “Whiskey Sour”and “Canada Dry.”

Miniature version ofthe “A Dedication tothe Future” statue bysculptor ChristianPetersen

Type 3560valvepositioner


1962 Design U Vee-Ball ® throttlingball valveintroduced.

Sales meeting heldat the MountainShadows Resort inScottsdale, Arizona.

First attempt by theUnited AutoWorkers (UAW) toorganize theMarshalltownfactory.

Tokico, themanufacturerlicensed tomanufactureFisher productsin Japan, putsout a magazinesimilar to TheGovernor.

1963 Designs DS (2-way) and Design DY (3-way) valvebodies introduced.

Automated data collection system installed in theMarshalltown plant. Data processing department isorganized to mechanize cost accounting, inventorycontrol and order entry procedures.

First computer is purchased in Marshalltown; it stores16,000 bits of information.

Tie tac is made available to salesagents and personnel; it is aminiature of the gold-plated serialnumber 3,000,000 control valve.

Fish

er “

Firs

ts”

InTe

chn

olo

gy

You don’t get to be a worldleader overnight. You do it by

maintaining a culture ofcontinuous improvement and acommitment to finding a betterway of doing things. FisherGovernor Company foundersestablished the culture and allsubsequent managers havefollowed it.

As a result, Fisher productslead the industry for innovationand quality. Fisher engineerswere the:

• First to develop authoritativecapacity and sizing data charts.

• First to use rotary valves (balland butterfly valves) as processcontrol valves.

• First to introduce techniquesof control valve diagnosticsusing the FlowScanner ™ system.

• First to develop a houseservice gas regulator (the S402)using engineered resins.

• First to develop aerodynamicand hydrodynamic noiseprediction techniques andprocedures.

• First to incorporate scanningelectron microscopy in controlvalve evaluations.

• First to develop a mobile, non-intrusive, hand-held leveldetecting device.

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

Ball polisher added toMarshalltown toolengineeringdepartment.

For the firsttime since itsbeginning in1934, TheGovernornewsletter isdelivered to thehomes ofMarshalltownemployees.

Thirty-five research engineers and technicianscomplete 530 test projects in the Marshalltownlaboratories in one year.


Level-Trol advertisement from the early 1960s

• First to receive N-stampcertification and to manufactureautomatic control valves fornuclear power plants.

• First to develop digital controlvalves and performancediagnostics for improved controland predictive maintenance.

• First to develop special controlvalve sizing procedures for non-ideal and non-Newtonian fluids.

In the 1960s, the Fisher slide rule was a state-of-the-artdevice used to size controlvalves. Cv was the universalliquid flow coefficient standard,but Fisher engineers didn’tconsider it very accurate forsizing valves in gas applications.Thus, the Fisher engineeringdepartment developed the Cggas coefficient that is still usedtoday for sizing valves in gasservice.

Members of the women’s gas regulator bowling team fromleft, Elaine Paul, Lillian Yates, Virginia Clark, Pat Oetker andBarbara Scafferi

Type 3100 Lev-Al-Con capacity level detectorintroduced.

Tradeshow features seven identical Fisher controlvalves manufactured in seven countries.


1964 Marshalltown plantemployees vote for UnitedAuto Workersrepresentation by a count of453 to 435.

In-H

ou

se R

eso

urc

es

Beginning with the patternshop in 1915, the company

established in-housedepartments to support its coredevelopment, sales andmanufacturing activities. Today,these departments enter andprocess orders, develop productdrawings (drafting), handleimports and exports, maintainequipment and facilities, controlinventory, generate advertising,recruit new employees, andmany other activities too

numerous to mention.As the company grew,

managing information becameespecially critical. Several groupsnow focus on this task. Theseteams include the informationcenters (providing library andWeb-based services), technicaldocumentation (producingproduct manuals and bulletins),mail rooms (handling inter-officeand general post deliveries) andpublication stockrooms (storingand distributing product and

promotional literature).Employees within thesedepartments deal withtremendous volumes ofcompany-generated materialand receive requests fromEmerson and customer facilitiesall over the world.

Photographers (GeorgePorter and Dave Anderson) andgraphic design employees wereresponsible for many of thephotos, documents and printads that appear in this book.

UAW newsletter

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

Office parking stickers used in Marshalltown.

Factory training center in Marshalltown trains shopmachine operators.

Sales meetings held at the Port-O-Call in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California.

Sales reach $39 million.

1965 Elliot AutomationPrivate Limitedincorporates to sellvalves in South East Asia.

First automatictelephone systeminstalled in Marshalltowneliminates the switchboard.


LPG and natural gasregulator manufacturingmoves fromMarshalltown to a40,000-square-footfactory in McKinney,Texas.

First printing of the Control Valve Handbook.

Kathy Viers

Why are Fisher control valvespainted green? One theory

is that green is a lucky symbol ofprofitability—the color ofmoney. Some say it’s becauseFisher valves originated inAmerica’s heartland, home ofgreen fields and green tractors.Others say there was a sale ongreen paint that week, and thebuyer went a little crazy!

According to formerpresident Tom Shive, brightgreen was simply not being used

by any other valve manufacturerat the time.

Tom said, “The choice wasmade in the mid-1950s, whenthe old style cast irondiaphragm casings werereplaced by pressed steelcasings used on the Type 657and 667 topworks. The teamdecided to paint them adistinctive color—one that woulddifferentiate Fisher assembliesinstalled in a refinery, chemicalplant, pulp mill, etc. The

distinctive color turned out tobe bright green. Paul Elfers, whowas vice president of sales at thetime, probably made theselection.”

After 34 years with thecompany, Tom says he and a lotof other guys have “Fishergreen” in their blood. And thosegreen Fisher valves are indeed adistinctive asset and source ofpride in industrial processingplants all over the world.

Wh

y Green

?


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

Materials management department organizes in Marshalltown.

Tolu

ca, M

exic

o,

Exp

ort

s Pa

rts

The factory in Toluca, Mexico,was the first non-licensee

production facility Fisherestablished in Latin America(1965). Initially, the siteproduced control valveassemblies and exported trimparts (since 1985) to NorthAmerica. In 1993, however,Toluca shifted its focus toexporting parts. Today, Toluca isan important, high-volumesupplier of Fisher valvecomponents worldwide.

Ramon Sanchez, hired as amaterials manager (1984), haswitnessed two major facilityexpansions (1994 and 2004).Each expansion included thetransfer of CNC machines fromMarshalltown and Sherman aswell as the addition of morethan 100 new employees.

“Thanks in part to leanmanufacturing and productrationalization initiatives (2000),we were able to increasecapacity without new buildings,”

he said. “The expansionsdoubled production andenabled us to keep pace withdouble-digit growth in sales.”

Ramon was promoted toToluca plant manager (1996).“We have made safety and on-time delivery improvements,as well as earned ISO 9002certification (1997),” he said.“The site’s 254 employees willcontinue to support the Fisherworldwide manufacturingstrategy.”

Type 546 electro-pneumatic transducer, Design BF valve body,Design IC cryogenicvalve body, Design ZLAlined angle body, and Design V25 rotary ballvalves are introduced.

IBM 1460 computer, 1965

Design BF valveadvertisement


New turret lathe, drill andmilling machine installedin Marshalltown factory.

“Getting to know Fisher”corporate advertisementseries begins.

The Fisher Foundationadds four paintings andfour new statues (TheFour Seasons) to theMarshalltownCommunity Center’s artcollection.

Company’s guiding philosophy is Quality People,Quality Products and Quality Profits.

Sales top $53 million.

Metropolitan Opera Studio presentsa one-act opera at the 85thanniversary sales meeting, whichutilizes the theme “The CurtainRises.” (Tallcorn Hotel inMarshalltown).

From the original FisherGovernor Company sprang a

host of separate product andbusiness segments that nowoperate as divisions within theglobal scope of Emerson ProcessManagement.

• Fisher regulators serveindustrial and natural gasapplications.

• Instrument & Valve Servicesfocuses on valve and instrument

repair, diagnostic capabilities,and startup services, as well asthe sales of ENCORE ® valves.

• Flow Computer Division(created in 2000) focuses onflow computers and remoteterminal units to measure andcontrol flow in gas fields andpipelines.

The Fisher valve division,which represents the corestrengths and capabilities of the

Fisher Governor Company, alsoexpanded its product linethrough acquisitions. Today, theFisher line includes POSI-SEALbutterfly valves, Baumannsanitary valves, and steam conditioners and de-superheaters. The valvedivision is comprised of sixbusiness units: sliding-stemvalves; rotary valves; parts;instruments; engineeredproducts; and Baumannproducts.

Dick Brewer operates a new solid statecontrolled automatic turret lathe (with electronic logic circuits) in theMarshalltown shop, 1965

Divid

e and

Gro

w


1966 New 100,000-square-foot manufacturinglicensee plant opens in Cernay, France, movingproduction from Mulhouse, France.

Design BFC valvebody, Type 310gas regulator andContinentalFishtail ® valveintroduced.

Advertising department in Marshalltown purchases itsfirst collating machine.

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “The CountdownYear.” (Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. and Kona KaiKlub in San Diego, California).

Safety glasses program begins in Marshalltown.

Go

vern

or

Ro

ad O

pen

s

At its opening in 1967, the360,000-square-foot factory

on Governor Road inMarshalltown was the largestand most advanced controlvalve manufacturing facility inthe world. In some areas, sixmachining operations occurredsimultaneously, and it took onlysix seconds for a brass rod tobecome control valvecomponents. Machiningresources already included an108-inch vertical turret lathe

and a six-spindle drill. Up to1,200 employees worked at thisfacility on three shifts.

In 1991, the largestmanufacturing restructuringeffort in the company’s historybegan. The focused factoryconcept merged machining andassembly capabilities to improveefficiency. Manufacturing unitsor cells were created to focus onspecific product lines (such assliding-stem valves) and toenable line-of-sight

manufacturing. Each cellfunctions independently whilesharing shipping andmaintenance resources.

A 28,000-square-footaddition to Governor Roadincluded a state-of-the-artpowder-coat painting system,welding booths and updatedlighting.

In 2001, the site adoptedlean manufacturing and valuestream concepts to eliminatewaste and improve throughput.

Drawing of flow through the Fishtail valve

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

Cernay, France, office in 1966

1967 Governor Road plant opens in Marshalltown. Itmeasures 360,000 square feet and is one of the mostadvanced machine shops of its kind in the world.


Design E valve bodyintroduced.

Sales meeting utilizes thetheme “Keep the Faith Baby,There is a Solution.” (ParkSheraton in Montreal,Quebec, Canada)

Fisher Governor Companyappears on the AmericanStock Exchange, symbol FG.

Ad campaign begins with thetheme “It’s Hard to GetBeyond the Reach of the Fisher Man and Fisher Experience.”

The Fisher easy-e ® controlvalve, introduced in 1967 and

still selling today, is the largestand most successful controlvalve product line withinEmerson Process Managementand quite possibly, within theprocess control industry. Howdoes one measure a product’ssuccess? For one thing,customers often use the namee-body as a generic term forcontrol valve.

The sliding-stem, globe-style

valve was an innovation in 1967that brought cage-guidingtechnology, superior control andversatility to the industry. Itsvalve body is a platform onwhich one can customize theassembly to fit any application.A choice of trim sizes and stylesenables users to maximizecontrol as well as minimize theirinvestment.

To date, an estimated 1.5million e-bodies have been soldworldwide. The rugged,

field-proven easy-e valvecontinues to set the industrystandard for dependability andlongevity. Fisher has repeatedthe easy-e valve’s success withproducts like the 546transducer, the 3582 pneumaticpositioner, and the 657 Seriesactuator—each of which havesold more than one-millionunits. The Fisher valve divisiondesigns and builds products thatbecome Cadillacs ® of theprocess control industry.

The easy-e Sets Stan

dard

A line in this advertisement reads: Wherever you are, you’ll findthe Fisher Man, with his knowledge of the newest productsand latest techniques, can solve your control problem


1968 Design ENA nuclear feedwater valve is introduced.

Emp

loye

es S

et R

eco

rds As the birthplace of Fisher

Governor Company,Marshalltown, Iowa, providesunique examples of employees’commitment to service.

In 1945, Watson Ramseyobserved his 80th birthday onthe job in the box house andreceived the distinction of oldestemployee. He’d retired fromfarming at 71, but when the warbegan, he wanted to “lend ahand and share in the victory.”Two of Mr. Ramsey’s 22

grandchildren, Don Maulsby andDale Wilhelmi, also worked forFisher-Marshalltown at thattime.

John Eige started in 1900 atage 15, receiving five cents anhour for a ten-hour day, six-dayweek. The company’s sixthemployee, John worked as amachinist and saw nine plantexpansions. In 1950, Bill Fisherpresented a gold watch to JohnEige for 50 years of service. Johnretired in 1955.

Bob Lane, who retired inJanuary 1995, tied with JohnEige for the longest individuallength of service—54 years. Bob started working for Fisher-Marshalltown in 1941 atage 17 and over five decades, he claimed he wore out two machines!

In 2005, Patrick Rundall,quality manager for the FlowComputer Division inMarshalltown, is the fourthgeneration of his family to serve

“Psychedelic” control valve advertising campaign.

Sales meeting utilizes the theme “Complete andBigger Sales with Cages, Balls and Tails.” (RegencyHyatt House in Atlanta, Georgia, and Caesar’s Palace inLas Vegas, Nevada)

Sales meeting, 1968

Dick Lytle, Al Ehrkeand Jerry Purtell withcustomers, 1968


Control valve noise abatement research programinitiated in Marshalltown.

Strain gauges test pressure rating of products.

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

Fisher in Marshalltown. Hefollows in the footsteps of hisgreat-grandfather (John Eige -1900 to 1955), his maternalgrandfather (Norman Eige -1939 to 1979), his paternalgrandfather (Jack Rundall -1950 to 1965), and his father(John Rundall - 1961 to 2000).

From the late 1940s to themid-1980s, seven brothers fromthe Case family all worked forFisher-Marshalltown in thefactory. Together, Calvin,

Donald, Floyd, Larry, Mainard,Marvin and Bernard contributeda total of 215 years of service. In2005, Kevin Case, maintains thefamily tradition as a janitor, 1stshift, at the Governor Roadplant.

Bill Fisher announces plans to divest his familyholdings in Fisher Governor Company and relinquishday-to-day operating responsibilities.

Marshalltown engineering gets a new computerized calculator.

Brochure, 1968

The Case brothers make Fisher a family tradition, 1980


1969 MonsantoCompany of St. Louis,Missouri, and FisherGovernor Companymerge. New name is Fisher Controls Company; it operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Bill Fisher selects Tom Shive to serveas president and chief operatingofficer.

ac2 electronic instrument, Whisper Trim ®, Cavitrol ® trimand Type 380 differentialpressure element areintroduced.

Marshalltown management team, 1969

The

Mo

nsa

nto

Mer

ger

Monsanto, founded in 1901,pioneered new products

and processes not only for thechemical and agriculturalindustries but also for processcontrol.

Monsanto and Fisher mergedin 1969 and stockholders tradedFisher shares for Monsantoshares. Monsanto proved willingto invest in new technology,from advanced control systemsto electronic instrumentation.

Under Monsanto’s leadership

the name was changed from theFisher Governor Company toFisher Controls Company.

Monsanto invested $100million in new products: ac2

(1969) and dc2 (1971) electronicanalog instrumentation and thePROVOX ® distributed controlsystem (1980).

Monsanto established:

•Electronic instrumentmanufacturing operations inIowa and England.

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

• A new manufacturing plant inJapan operated by joint ventureNippon Fisher Co. Ltd.

• An expansion of the R.A. EngelTechnical Center inMarshalltown.

•PROVOX instrumentationstaging facilities in Texas and Canada.

ac2

coffee coaster


Nippon Fisher Co., Ltd. forms as a joint venture tomanufacture and market products in Japan (Setagaya Ward, Tokyo). The joint venture is betweenFisher Controls; Moritani and Co., Ltd. (salesrepresentative); and Tokico (manufacturing licensee).

McKinney plant produces its two millionth LP-Gas regulator.

Bill Landholt (who later becomes president) is hired.

Continental Division plant in Coraopolis breaks groundfor new building. Previous expansions include 10,000square feet in 1962—the same year an office buildingof 10,000 square feet wasbuilt—and 11,800square feet in 1964.

Martha Ellen TyePlayhouse forperforming artsopens inMarshalltown.

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 Easyto do Business With.” (Sheraton-Four AmbassadorsHotel in Miami, Florida, and Fairmont Hotel in SanFrancisco, California).

1970 S200 series relief gas regulator introduced.

Sales meeting utilizes the theme“MS3=702 + X.”(Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada)

The idea of contracting withindividuals and establishing

separate independentcompanies to sell Fisherproducts has proven its valueover time. Jasper and Bill Fisherinterviewed many of the youngengineers who became Fishersales representatives. Salesmanagers, including Paul Elfersand Glenn Brockett, nurturedthe network and inspired in it aspirit of friendly competition and teamwork.

The chance to own your ownbusiness and to share in FisherGovernor Company's growthwas a powerful incentive formany young engineers. In themid-1940s, Bailie Vinson, RollieStover, Bob Mason, Al Ehrke, JackCarter, Nick Scallon, CliffordIves, Ken Puffer and Bud Sweivenwere among those to seize theopportunity. These men notonly built fortunes andreputations, but also served asrole models of leadership and

loyalty for the Local BusinessPartners who followed.

Respected by customers andenvied by competitors, theFisher representative sellingsystem has become the best ofits kind in the world. Withsupport from this network, theFisher Governor Company grewto lead two (pressure and level)of the four elements of control(flow, temperature, pressure andlevel) and became a world leaderin the control valve industry.

Cavitrol trim advertisement, 1969

1970s

Yo

un

g En

gin

eersB

ecom

e Rep

resentatives


1971 New 32,000-square-foot R.A. Engel TechnicalCenter opens in Marshalltown, housing the world’smost advanced flow test laboratory. It has 15 flow testlines and handles liquids and gases at pressures of2,500 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 electronicinstrumentation.

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

Tech

no

log

y Le

ader

ship

The 1960s and 1970srepresented a phase of

tremendous expansion,especially in terms oftechnological developments.During this period, FisherControls introduced some of itsmost famous products, from e-body valves to digital (dc2) anddistributed (PROVOX) controls.It also began the research efforts that would lead toindustry breakthroughs in noiseabatement, liquid level

measurement, reducedcavitation and control valvediagnostics.

In Marshalltown,manufacturing and productdevelopment resources doubledin size. As head of research anddevelopment, Ray Engelexpanded Fisher engineeringresources to be the mostcomprehensive in the automaticcontrol valve industry.

Besides directing many post-war facility additions,

Ray served as an active memberof five technical societiesincluding the Instrument Societyof America, American Weldingand the Society for ExperimentalStress Analysis.

Under his direction, Fisherdesign engineers becameinnovators who helped movenot only Fisher Controls but theentire industry from pneumaticto analog to digital controls.Fisher engineers usedcomputers to solve engineering


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

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

Sales meeting utilizes the theme“Closing the Loop.” (Broadwater BeachHotel in Biloxi, Mississippi).

Bill Fisher joins the Monsanto Boardand serves until January 1983.

Industrial Process Control textbook ispublished by two Marshalltownresearch engineers, Gary Andersonand Sheldon Lloyd.

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

Likeness of John Rundall and Lynn Maxwell in the flow lab

Bob Wilson and 16-inch ENA valve, 1968

problems and were among thefirst to implement computer-aided drafting, valve sizingspecifications and qualitystandards. Documenting whatthey learned, Fisher Controlsproduced textbooks and audio-visual materials for use by theindustry at large.

In 1971, the companyopened a new research anddevelopment center inMarshalltown, featuring thelargest and most-advanced flow

lab in the world. Honoring RayEngel (1930 to 1969), the R.A. Engel Technical Center inMarshalltown remains the“home base” of Fisher valvedivision research andengineering.

In 1987, Iowa StateUniversity named its newmechanical engineeringlaboratory the Raymond A.Engel Laboratory. A Hewlett-Packard mini-computer and plotter,

which is used to put numerical data into graphicform, drew this profile of Ray Engel

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


1972 Whisper Trim II, Wizard III controller, and Type320 electro-hydraulic actuator introduced.

First Fisher ServiceCompany opens inGonzales, Louisiana(Coon Trap Road).

Vent silencer first usedin Marshalltown.

ac 2 circuit board assembler Linn Ferguson, 1970

Ad

vert

isin

g a

c2an

d d

c2 In the mid-1970s, FisherControls Company promoted

ac 2 and dc 2 products using 2-page, color advertisements.Each advertisement told thestory of a customer success.Here were the headlines:

“If our process acts up, we canpin down the problem in fiveminutes with Fisher ac 2.”

“Fisher takes the heat offrecovery control.”

“Since we put a Fisher dc 2

computer in, we’ve taken 3%more ammonia out.”

“We don’t get bad batchesanymore, thanks to the Fishercomputer.”

“Every day, we make this muchmore than we used to.”

“Our old recipes and the newFisher computer make perfectbatches time after time.”

“Start-up couldn’t have beensmoother. Better yet is how wellit stays up.”

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

How a Fisher dc 2 took the slackout 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 VegasInternational Hotel in Las Vegas,Nevada, and King’s Inn in Freeport,Grand Bahama)

New art styles and colors adopted forcatalog bulletins.

Sales representative established inBogota, Colombia.

Stockroom gets a new plastic wrapping machine.

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

Fishercustomers atthe ISA show in Houston,Texas, get ahelicopter tourof MonsantoCompany’sChocolateBayou plant.

Plant opens inBarcelona, Spain.

Whisper TrimIII valve trimintroduced.

Verlyn Mysak and Darlene Eggers

U.S. dependence on foreignoil (1970s) led to the growth

of the nuclear power industryand to unique challenges forFisher design engineers. (Theyjoked that a two-pound nuclearvalve shipped with four poundsof paperwork, documentingquality and safetyrequirements.)

Fisher was the first valvesupplier to receive N-stampcertification and to design andproduce nuclear valves.

One project (1978) involvedtwo Class I valves for a nuclearplant in Japan. Designed towithstand high-temperaturesand pressures, the Design SS or“super special” valves controlthe water re-circulation rate inthe reactor’s core, convertingtwo tons of water into steamevery second. (The valvesremain in service after 25 yearsand in 2004, the customerordered replacement trim,valued at $1.8M.)

In the ‘80s, many Fishercompetitors dropped out of thenuclear business, but Fishermaintained its support andinnovation for the industry.Fisher engineers also used theexperience gained servingnuclear power to develop severeservice products for otherindustries.

From 2004 to 2005, thenuclear power business grew18%, with $30M in sales.

Prod

ucin

g N

uclear V

alves

Helicopter landing at the ISA show


1974 Bill Fisher retires as Fisher board chairman.

Sales representatives honor Bill Fisher’s retirementby making it possible to donate Leonardo Da

Vinci’s 17th century book titled Trattato dellaPittura (Treatise on Painting) to the J.W. Fishercollection in literature and the arts. It is the

one-millionth volume in the Iowa StateUniversity library.

Sales meetingutilizes the theme“Jolly Green Giant.”(MGM Grand Hotel inLas Vegas, Nevada)

First winner of the Fisher Man of the Year award is Jim Fraychinaud.

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

Firs

t Se

rvic

e C

ente

rO

n C

oo

n T

rap

Ro

ad

In 1972, Fisher Controlsestablished its first valve repair

depot in Gonzales, Louisiana. Surrounded by oil and gas

customers this facility on CoonTrap Road was the brain-child ofGlenn Brockett who was in salesin Marshalltown.

Making equipment repairservices available to localcustomers would eliminate thelong delays and costs associatedwith sending products back tothe factory.

Fisher sales representativescould make referrals, sell theservice and earn a commissionon the parts and labor.

Texas native Jerry Purtellinitially managed the FisherService Company and its firstrepair center in Gonzales.TheGonzales facility, which began asa small machine shop andassembly area, has grown alongwith the Fisher service business.

Today, Gonzales producesENCORE re-manufactured valves

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

Cavitrol III anti-cavitation trim is introduced.

Noise application group organizedin Marshalltown.

Cookbook features the favoritedishes of Fisher sales and marketingpeople and field representatives.

Fisher Theater at Iowa StateUniversity is funded largely by theGramma Fisher Foundation. Bill Fisher donates gold stagecurtains to the Fisher Theater and StephensAuditorium, which were hand woven on a loom in Japan.

New 50,000-square-foot addition to Woodstock,Canada, manufacturing plant.

Advertisements run in 12 U.S. industrial magazines.

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

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


50,000-square-foot electronics plant (Governor RoadSouth) opens in Marshalltown. In 2005 it housesinformation technology, payroll, manufacturingengineering and procurement.

Milwaukee Die Casting Company of Milwaukee,Wisconsin, acquired.

Design V100 Vee-Ball valve andType 8500 edisc ®

valve introduced.

What began as the FisherService Company evolved

into the worldwide Instrument &Valve Services (I&VS)organization, led by Denny Cahill(2005) as a separate businessunit with annual sales of $200 million.

Highly-trained andexperienced I&VS personnelmachine, fabricate, repair, andtroubleshoot Fisher controlvalves. They also repairinstruments (such as

Rosemount ® transmitters),conduct plant audits, supportmaintenance turnarounds, andsupply re-manufacturedequipment via the ENCOREproduct line.

I&VS personnel work hand-in-hand with Emerson localbusiness partners to meetcustomer needs and providepreventive maintenance servicesincluding asset optimization,control valve diagnostics, andoutage turnarounds.

The goal of the I&VS businessunit is to be the dominant,premium service organization,recognized by global customersas a highly differentiated andvalue-added service provider.Thanks to the standards andheritage set in Gonzales, theFisher service team continues tohelp customers better managetheir process plant assets.

Instru

men

t &V

alveServices

Design V100advertisement


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

Envi

ron

men

tal

Stew

ard

ship

In the 1970s, faced withescalating fuel bills and

pollution, Americans began torecycle, to conserve and toenact legislation focused onenvironmental protection.

Anticipating tough new U.S.Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) regulations,industrial producers took a hard look at their processes and turned their expertise toreducing waste and fugitive emissions.

Fisher engineers, too, beganto develop environmentalsolutions for internal andexternal applications. As theonly control valve manufacturerto take part in the EPA air toxinregulatory negotiatingmeetings, Fisher Controlssubsequently introducedproducts like the ENVIRO-SEAL ®

valve packing and bellowssystem, designed to reducefugitive emissions from leakingvalves, pumps and flanges.

Fisher manufacturing teamsalso made a number ofenvironmental breakthroughs inproduction processes. InMarshalltown, for example:

• A powder-coating (painting)system collected and reusedmore than 95% of the powderover-spray.

• A biofiltration systemeliminated emissions in thepainting area.

Sales meetingutilizes the theme “The Spirit of ‘76.”(Innisbrook inTarpon Springs,Florida)

Advertisement shows Chuck Karns, manager of the Sherman plant, and theheadline reads: We built a Texas-size plant to fill Texas-size orders, 1978

Left to right Bruce Duncan,Bill Bestmann, Art Frenchand Tony Casciato


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

Series 1000 ac2 systemintroduced.

1977 New plant opens inSao Jose dos Campos,Brazil.

Type 1098-EGR district regulator, 128-PQ Series oildump valves, LS Series signal converters and theRD221 and RD1111 recorders are introduced.

First MarshalltownBulletin newsletter ispublished.

Terry Buzbee (wholater becomespresident) is hired asa sales engineer.

Sales meeting utilizesthe theme “Movin’On.” (Alladin Hotel inLas Vegas, Nevada)

• Bacteria used in watertreatment was “trained” to eatthe vapors from paint thinnersand solvents, thereby helping topurify the air.

• An ion exchange processremoved metal contaminantfrom finishing processwastewater.

• A below-ground vaultprovided storage of machinechemicals and waste oil.

• A coolant recycling processreduced the volume of wastecoolant from 3,000 to 600gallons per week.

Employees in McKinney,Texas, received the Clean Texas2000 award from TexasGovernor Ann Richards.Sponsored by the Texas WaterCommission, the awardrecognized the site’s efforts toreduce waste generation and,through recycling, to keep more

than seven tons of plastic andrubber out of local landfills.

From 1987 to 1991,employees in Sherman, Texas,began to use recycled paper,reduced landfill use by 85 tonsper year, and recycled 100% ofhazardous waste generated.They received the state’s AltrusaAward for recycling and wasteminimization.

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

Waldo W. Wizard IV, an animated charactercreated by Lenn Redman,is used at the Movin’ Onsales meeting, 1977


1978 First ex-U.S. control valve repair operation opensin Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

EH series valves, Design EZ valves, Type 1052 actuator,Type 8501 edisc rotary valve, and Type 1083 handlever

actuator areintroduced.

Color videocamera andlights added toeducation centerin Marshalltown.

Fun

Fac

ts A

bo

ut

Fish

er

Circa 1920 - The original Type 1pump governor was updatedonly once and the newer designwas called Type 1B.

During the Depression, RayEngel reportedly acceptedmenial jobs and, on occasion,worked for free to retain hisposition. (He said he thoughtthe company had potential.)

A publication of the AmericanBowling Congress (October

1940 issue) featured an articleon Fisher Bowling Leagues,bringing national recognition tothe company’s three leaguesand 200 employee bowlers.

Fisher engineers backed theirrespective college teams withmoney. In October 1941,graduates from the University ofNebraska and from Iowa StateUniversity entered anagreement in which the loserswould pay the winners $20

every time the two colleges metin competition. The agreementincluded football, basketball,baseball, tennis, golf, swimming,track, wrestling and even cross-country runs. Ray Engelwas delegated to receive anddisburse all the money!

In 1942, Paul Elfers won theMarshalltown Golf Tournamentat Elmwood, scoring an even par72 in the finals.

Thirty-five year pin added tolength-of-service award program.

Men and women in Marshalltowndrafting services number 125.

First “(Hot) Dog Roast”hosted by May birthdayboys in Marshalltown.

College “co-op” educationprogram starts in Marshalltown.

Sales meeting utilizes thetheme “Accentuate thePositive.” (Doral CountryClub in Miami, Florida)

Phil Mayberry making video training tapes, 1978

Musical note composed ofplus signs is used at theAccentuate the Positivesales meeting


1979 Fisher Controls Corporation of Delaware (FCCD)forms as a joint venture between Monsanto andBritain’s General Electric Company, Ltd. (GEC). It combines Fisher Controls Company with portions ofGEC located in Scotland, France, West Germany,Australia, Spain, South Africa and Singapore.

Headquarters moves to Clayton, Missouri.

Edmond S. Bauer is named chairman, president andchief executive officer.

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

New computer-aided design draftingsystem installed in Marshalltown.

Production of control valvesand regulators begins inSingapore.

First issue of The Valve Linenewsletter is distributed toSherman employees.

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

1945 - The oldest Type 1 everreturned to the factory was#101, built and shipped inAugust 1888 and installed inwater service in Jefferson City,Missouri. It had operatedreliably, without repairs, for 57years! It originally sold for $36.

In late January 1947,Marshalltown got 20 inches ofsnow and Fisher employeesspent the night at work.

1961 - Fisher supplied Design Cand Type 16532 high-pressurevalves for a polyethylene plant .The valves were designed forpressures up to 50,000 psi—thehighest rating for any valve to date.

One Fisher advertisement in themid-1960s showed a manleading a burro with a Design“U” Vee-Ball on its back. Onecustomer sent in a copy of thead on which he had penciled,

“No wonder your deliveries takeso long.” Another customerasked “Which one is therepresentative?”

Fisher Controls achieved itsmost amazing business turn-around in 1987, producingoperating income of $26 millioncompared to a $66 million lossin 1986. Fisher ended the yearwith $750 million in net sales(excluding sales to Monsanto).

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

Marshalltown drafter Jim Adkins


1980 Centennial celebration!

A black-tie event is held at theMartha Ellen Tye Playhouse inMarshalltown for the

management team, at whichopera singer Beverly Sills hosts

members of the New York City Opera.Around 9,700 Fisher retirees, employees and

family members picnic and tour the five facilities in Marshalltown.

Nearly 900 employees, their families and communityvisitors tour the McKinney, Texas, plant.

Coraopolis plantcelebrates thecentennial withan open houseand picnic.

Sherman plantholds its firstopen house foremployees andtheir families.

Woodstockplant celebratesits own 25thanniversaryalong with thecentennialcelebration.

1980sFi

sher

Val

ves

Are

Wh

ere?

1897 - A Type 1 was installed inthe Marshalltown Water Works.

1907 - Fisher products werebeing applied worldwide,including applications onGerman navy battleships and inunderground electric railways in London.

1935 - 17 Type 57s providesteam control in a new highschool’s kitchen in Louisville,Kentucky.

1936 - Level controllers anddiaphragm motor valves sent toa petroleum refinery in Iraq.

1939 - Fisher diaphragm motorvalves were installed in thesteam and oil lines of the UnionPacific Railroad’s fleet ofsteamliners (locomotives).

1941 - Pump governors anddiaphragm control valves serve arefinery in Chungking, China,that was completely

underground (for protectionfrom enemy bombers).

1943 - Fisher sent liquid levelcontrollers and diaphragmmotor valves to repair Russianindustrial areas devastated byGerman bombs.

1962 - Fisher-Marshalltownproduced 297 identical Type 1008-A valves for achemical plant in Italy and itsmercury heat exchanger system.

PROVOX distributed control system and Type 8550rotary valve introduced.

Employees number 11,000 worldwide (3,200 in Marshalltown).

Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, butterfly manufacturingplant 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 JustBegun.” (Innisbrook in Tarpon Springs, Florida)

Dave Brown

Centennial issue of the Governor

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


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

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

Sales meeting utilizes thetheme “Staking Our Claim.”(Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, California)

McKinney plant completesa $4.3 million expansion.

Toluca, Mexico, plantdoubles in size.

Annual sales are $650 million.

1990 - An oil company in theMiddle East ordered $28 millionworth of Fisher equipment tocontrol gas-oil separationprocesses (GOSP), seawatertreatment, water injection andwater pumping stations.

1991 - Marshalltown supplied anSS-250 valve with two-stagetrim for the Stratfjord B, an oilplatform in the North Sea, offthe coast of Norway.

1992 - Fisher-Marshalltowndesigned and built a series ofcritical service valves for theAlaska pipeline. The orderincluded some giants: a 2500-pound Design EHT antisurgevalve, four 30-inch Design FBGTglobe valves and a 60-inchbutterfly valve (made in NorthStonington).

2002 - The first $1M fabricatedbody valve resists corrosion in achemical plant in Zhuhai, China.

2004 - Fisher supplies generaland severe service control valvesfor a new oil-from-tarsandsproject in Alberta.

2005 - A series of largecompressor antisurge valvesserve natural gas projects inBrunei and Qatar.


1982 Name changes toFisher ControlsInternational, Inc. (FCII).Logo changes.

Ed Bauer passes away andRobert E. Flynn succeeds himas president and chiefexecutive officer of FCII.Arthur French is named chiefoperating officer.

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

The

Sho

w in

th

e B

usi

nes

s Participation in industrytradeshows remains an

important component of anygood marketing strategy.Tradeshows provide a chance forFisher personnel to show offnew products, to see whatcompetitors have to offer, and tostrengthen relationships withkey customers.

From the tradeshow in Parisin 1900, to a power industryshow in New York City in 1938,to ISA International in Chicago in

1993, the Fisher valve divisionputs the show in its business.

In addition to setting upexhibits, suppliers like Fisherhost parties for customers,present technical papers, andeven serve on the boards thatorganize the entire event.

Big shows, such as thoseorganized by the InstrumentSociety of America, arecompetitions in themselves.Making a splash and, hopefully,a lasting impression requires a

serious investment of time andmoney. For many years, Fishernot only had the largest exhibitin center court but also a bigattraction of some kind.

At the 1986 ISA show inHouston, the star of the Fisherexhibit was a 30-inch, 2500-pound valve transported fromMarshalltown to Texas.

In New Orleans (Oct. 1990),Fisher rented space at theAquarium of the Americas,which had not yet opened to the

Manufacturing begins in Vichy, France.

Shrink-wrapped partskits help sell up to 20control-valve partsfor one price,under one part number.

Sherman plantexpands 80,000square feet.

Sold Milwaukee DieCasting Company.

Marshalltown’s Governor Road plant begins operatinga new electro-deposition painting and plating line.


First butterfly unitsship fromMarshalltown.

Firsttelecommunicationsline for the new order processingsystem (OPS) begins operating.

New 732-page OPSprice book is mailed.

Fisher Controls and Fahd Altobaishi and Companyform a joint venture for a manufacturing and servicecenter near the Dammam/Dhahran oil gatheringcenter of Saudi Arabia. Plans for this facility were later abandoned.

Type 585-CE-3611 corrosive service control valvepackage is introduced.

public. Over two nights, 4000visitors enjoyed the aquarium, aseafood buffet and a jazz band.

In the fall of 1993, thousandsattended three globaltradeshows that launched thecompany’s new corporateimage. The theme for the newexhibit was Fisher-Rosemount:Managing The Process Better.The key shows were ISA inChicago, Illinois; Chem-Asia inSingapore; and BIAS in Milan, Italy.

The 2001 ISA show inHouston featured an interactivedisplay introducing FOUNDATION ™

fieldbus technology. The only thing better than

going to customers is gettingthem to come to you. In 2003,Emerson Process Managementbegan hosting a privateconference called the EmersonExchange.

“In this forum, the focus is onus,” says Bruce Johnson of theProcess Systems & Solutions

division in Austin, Texas. “TheExchange provides face-to-facetime with actual users of ourproducts and technology as wellas an unequaled opportunity toshare best practices andapplication successes.”

In 2004, more than 1,500people from 42 countriesattended the Emerson Exchangein Grapevine, Texas.

Stockroom employees collating

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

James Matherly, right, assembledthe Type 7600 butterfly valve andKirk Starr, left, mounted the 352electrohydraulic actuator


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

Asia-Pacific headquarters is established in Goldhill Square, Singapore, to sell products in Japanand Korea under the titleFisher Controls South PacificLtd. (Headquarters moved toBukit Timah in 1986)

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

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

The Process Leader newsletterdebuts. The quarterly tabloidis distributed to Fisher salespersonnel worldwide.

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

Wit

nes

s to

Inn

ova

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n

Dave Taylor, an instrumentproducts marketing

manager in Europe, retired inJuly 2005 after more than 48years with the Fisher-Medwayorganization. He began (1956)as an apprentice with Elliott Bros(London) Ltd., located atRochester in the UnitedKingdom. The sitemanufactured Fisher valves (Aand Y bodies, HS, DB, 249) andinstruments (including 4150,2500, 2516, 3560) under license

and sold them to the worldoutside of the Americas.

“Teamwork and respect forindividuals at every level of theorganization made Fisher-Medway a great place to work,”he said. “We were proud to haveproduct leadership andcustomers who respected us asFisher, No Equal . . . and we allwanted to keep it that way.”

Three events stand out inDave’s memory of a long andrewarding career.

(1) He led the U.K. sales teamwho won the first £1 millioncontract (1977) for controlvalves. The order came from alarge refinery in Kuwait.

(2) As a PlantWeb marketingmanager for the Fisher valvedivision, he served on a cross-functional team introducingfield-based architecture toEurope, Middle East, and Africa.

“It is difficult to get risk-averse customers to try newtechnology, but we found plants

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

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

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

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

International ash tray


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

Fisher Controls purchases the rights to quartztechnology patents by acquiring Novex, Inc. andTechnologies Associates, Inc.

Australiaorganizationmoves to newoffice andmanufacturingfacility inWetherhill Park.

Parent companyMonsanto“standardizes” on PROVOX and subsequently completes systemupgrades at Chocolate Bayou (Texas), Indian Orchard(Massachusetts), Soda Springs (Idaho), Pensacola(Florida), and Anniston (Alabama) plants.

First video teleconference.

in the U.K., Holland andScotland willing to installFIELDVUE digital valvecontrollers and ValveLink ® 1000software as trial units. Thoseearly trials gave us valuablefeedback on how well theinstruments and software wereperforming on live processesover time. We, along with ourcustomers, learned toappreciate the value andpotential of advanced controland diagnostics technology.”

(3) During the same period,Dave and the Fisher-Medwayteam made a presentation to anengineering contractor usingPlantWeb digital plantarchitecture.

“Seeing the power of thistechnology via a projector andscreen left them literallyspeechless,” he said. “Thatreaction was frequentlyrepeated during subsequentdemonstrations.”

PlantWeb ® projects in

Europe, Middle East and Africagrew slowly at first, but throughdiligence by the country teamsinvolved, it has grownconsiderably and consistentlyever since.

Dave considers himselfprivileged to have witnessed theintroduction of this innovativePlantWeb ® architecture.

Design V500

Supermarket stock handling in Wetherhill Park, Australia, 1984


1985 Art French succeeds Bob Flynn as president.

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

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

Fisher-Marshalltown Education Center trains morethan 2,000 students.

Asi

a-Pa

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c M

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es

1965 - Registered GEC Elliot inSingapore. Started valve assemblyoperations at Bukit Timah.

1969 - Established Nippon Fisher asa licensee plant and sales office.

1974 - Opened Sakura plant.Opened Singapore sales office.

1979 - Changed name to FisherControls Singapore. Signed salesrepresentative agreements with PT Control System (Indonesia),Transwater Tenaga (Malaysia), Kanit Engineering (Thailand) and

Pearl Engineering (Pakistan).

1984 - Signed sales representativeagreements with InstrumentationEngineers, Trigon Management(Philippines), Lumax International(Taiwan) and Custom Controls (New Zealand).

1987 - Signed sales representativeagreements with CentralianControls, Pacific Controls, SouthernControls and Western ProcessControls, all in Australia.

1990 - Signed sales representativeagreement with KOFAC (Korea).

1992 - Established China office.Signed sales representativeagreement with LoftymanEngineering. Formed joint ventureto produce and sell in China.

1993 - Signed sales representativeagreement with AMP Mo Services(Brunei).

1994 - Opened Bao’an EmersonMachinery Equipment (Shenzhen)Co., Ltd. Sales offices in India opens.

4200 Series electronic position transmitter andsoftware packages for boiler control are introduced.

Fisher Service centers in LaPorte, Texas; Edmonton,Alberta; and Chicago, Illinois, begin facilityexpansions.

Fisher-Marshalltownemployees produceand ship a Type ARtitanium valve.

Wellness committeeforms inMarshalltown.

Quality ImprovementProcess isimplemented.

1986 Six globalbusiness units areestablished: processinstrumentation (PI),final control systems (FCS), measurementinstrumentation (MI), support services, SUNVIC, andPERMEA, Inc. (skid-mounted systems).

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


Assembly of traditionalPI products moves intothe Olive Street buildingin Marshalltown.

Type 399 “Easy Joe”regulator, Type 1250actuator, Design GLvalve, and Design RSSlined globe valve are introduced.

Serial number10,000,000 assigned toa Type 667 diaphragmactuator.

Leicester, England, facility opens.

Fisher-Marshalltown forms Project Wildcat as its firstcross-functional team to develop products for remotecontrol and data acquisition.

North American customers receivea belt buckle when they purchase aType 399.

75,000-square-foot addition tostaging center and 86,000-square-foot operations building open inAustin, Texas.

Team Up newsletter isdistributed to employees ofFisher Controls in Asia-Pacific.

The Fisher Service Company opens a new center inHamilton, Ontario, Canada, and breaks ground for anexpansion in Mansfield, Ohio.

1995 - Fisher Sanmar Ltd., a jointventure plant, opens in India.

1996 - Signed sales representativeagreement with Star Controls(China).

1997 - Started manufacturinginstruments at the Singapore ValveInstruments Manufacturing (SVIM)plant. Closed all China direct salesoffices. Signed sales representativeagreement with South ChinaControls.

1999 - Opened Nilai, Malaysia, plant.

2000 - Started product testing,evaluating, designing andengineering in Asia-Pacific.

2002 - Opened the PlantWebDynamic Performance Loop inSingapore. Re-aligned the Chinarepresentative territories.

2003 - Introduced business units.Opened sales office in Beijing.Signed sales rep agreement withSino Process (China).

2004 - Opened the wholly-ownedWuqing plant. Signed sales

representative agreement with Viet-Tech (Vietnam). Singaporeoffice received the regionheadquarters award from theSingapore government. SVIM plantwon the Emerson president’s awardfor operational excellence.

2005 - Ended the joint ventureTianjin Fisher Controls Valve Co.,Ltd. Started the Wuqing technicalcenter. Added firmware andelectrical research and engineeringcapabilities in Singapore.

The Leicester, England, facility comprises a 50,000-square-footsingle-story production area and two, two-story office blocks, eachcomprising 27,500 square feet


1987 Acquired EXAC Corporation, a flowmetermanufacturer in California.

Project Wildcat becomes the Remote AutomationSystems (RAS) group.

The first RemoteOperationsController (ROC) isintroduced.

Control valvediagnostics, Type3660 positionerand Type 3661positioner areintroduced.

A Q

ual

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Bill Fisher was fond of saying“Quality people, quality

products and quality profits.”That philosophy became aguiding principle of Fishermanagement.

In the 1980s amid industryrestructuring and increasedglobal competition, FisherControls took a hard look at itsprocesses and performance.Doing business in 47 differentcountries was not easy. Thecompany needed to be sensitive

to the local marketplace, but atthe same time, develop andshare a common, global vision.

Then-president JimTeegarden investigated andintroduced a qualityimprovement process (QIP) thatwas designed to improveconsistency, efficiency andconformance to requirements.The quality improvementprocess was based on sevenprinciples that defined acompany’s values: leadership;

information; strategic planning;resource utilization; qualityassurance of products andservices; results; and customersatisfaction. Fisher Controls setout to measure its performancein these areas, identify andimplement improvements andestablish quality partnershipalliances with key customers.

Jim Teegarden led Fisher-Marshalltown employeesthrough the QIP training andimplementation. Subsequent

North America sales meetingutilizes the theme “The Competitive Edge.”

5,000 people attend the Zero Defects Day familycelebration in Marshalltown.Austin celebrates first ZeroDefects Day.

438 McKinney plant employees attend a ZeroDefects Day celebration, 1986

Visor with “Q” forquality logo


1988 Fisher Controls signs a parts distributionagreement with Caterpillar, Inc.

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

UNIVOX control center and CVS series valves areintroduced.

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 retiredastronaut. (Grenelefe Resort in Grenelefe, Florida)

The manufacture of printed wiring board assembliesmoves from Marshalltown to Leicester, England.

The company signs an agreement tomarket desuperheaters and steamspecialties made by CON-TEK, which is in Atlanta, Georgia.

1989 Larry W. Solley succeeds JamesTeegarden as group vice presidentof FCS.

Art French leaves and Bob Flynn takes therole of president again.

FIRSTVUE ® valve sizing program and Type S400 houseservice regulator introduced.

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

The RAS group phases out of SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) andbecomes Field Automation Systems (FAS).

The manufacturingoperation in Toluca,Mexico,embracesStatisticalProcessControl forzero-defect,low-costproduction.

Nippon Fisher andFisher-Singapore receivethe Monsanto President’sSafety Award.

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

leaders, including Larry Solleyand Bob Flynn, expanded theprocess throughout NorthAmerica. Ultimately, qualityimprovement principles wereintroduced to worldwide Fisheroffices.

Larry said, “It is only quality ifit can be measured, tracked andrelated to customer require-ments and expectations. Ourgoal was to enhance a culturewithin Fisher of total quality andcontinuous improvement.”

Three awards in 1991illustrate the impact of QIP.

Fisher Controls was one ofthree companies in Austin,Texas, to receive a citation for“Significant Progress in TotalQuality.”

Fisher Controls and Puffer-Sweiven (local business partnerin Houston, Texas) received asupplier appreciation awardfrom Bechtel, Inc. (a globalengineering contractor) foroutstanding service provided as

part of a QIP partnership.Another engineering

contractor, Fluor Daniel, choseFisher Controls (from 10,000possible suppliers) to form a QIPpartnering relationship.

Today, Emerson ProcessManagement is recognizedaround the world as a leader intotal quality and a supplier withthe resources and commitmentto meet customer needs.

Four Toluca employees


1990 William W. Landholt succeeds Larry Solley asgroup vice president of FCS. Larry Solley succeedsRobert Flynn as chief executive officer and is electedchairman.

ENVIRO-SEAL ® valve packing system andFlowScanner valve diagnostics system introduced.

1990sFi

sher

Inst

rum

ents

, To

o One of most successful

Fisher instruments was the4100 Series Wizard controllers(1939) developed to provideproportional or on/offpneumatic gauge pressurecontrol. The proportional bandof the later 4100s was from 2 to50% of the Bourdon tube range.The instrument provided easychange over from reverse todirect-acting and a weatherproofhousing. Series 4190 Wizardcontrollers are still selling today.

The Type 546 current-to-pressure transducer (1965) wasequally successful, with sales ofone-half million units by 1990.Chrome-plated units (#500,000and #500,001) were used by thedisplay department fortradeshows. The Marshalltown546 assembly group had a partyfor the product’s 25thanniversary.

One paper mill customercalled the 546 “old reliable” andanother “the Timex ® of I/Ps”

because it takes a lickin’ andkeeps on tickin’.

Recent introductions includethe Type L2 liquid levelcontroller (2002), the Type DL3digital level transmitter (2003),and the Type i2P-100 electro-pneumatic transducer (2005).

North America sales meeting utilizes the theme“Shaping Tomorrow...Today.” (Arizona Biltmore Resortin Phoenix, Arizona)

Bill Fisher passes away.

The 500,000th Type 546 electro-pneumatic transduceris sold.

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


“The Contract”painting ispresented toFisher Controlsby Vinson tocommemoratetheir 50-yearrelationship. Ahandshakebetween BillFisher and BailieVinson (founder of Vinson Process Controls)symbolizes the successful business partnershipbetween Fisher and its sales representatives.

Fisher Service Company opens a repair center inBeaumont, Texas.

Fisher establishes a service company in Maracaibo,Venezuela. This facility (Fisher Controles de VenezuelaS.A.) shares office space with the local representative,Conind de Venezuela, owned by Puffer-Sweiven.

The Marshalltown valve manufacturing group beginsfocused factory restructuring and a 14,000-square-foot addition to the Governor Road plant.

Heritage committee forms in Marshalltown. It isresponsible for identifying, recording, collecting,preserving and managing exhibits of the company’s history.

In 1991, Larry Solley, chairmanand CEO of Fisher Controls,

announced the creation of theJ.W. Fisher Leadership Award inmemory of the company’s latechief executive, Bill Fisher. The last of the founding Fisherfamily to lead the company, Billdied on October 11, 1990.

Larry stated, “Bill’s leadershipduring a critical growth phase ofthe company gave substance tothe fundamentals of quality andcustomer commitment.

His legacy, foresight andleadership enabled FisherControls to build and maintainstrong customer relationships,dedicated employees and acommitment to quality.”

Since then, the J.W. FisherLeadership Award has beenpresented yearly to the Fisheremployee or sales representativewho best represents thoseideals.

Individual winners of theaward receive an engraved

bronze miniature of thesculpture A Dedication to theFuture by Christian Petersen. BillFisher commissioned the full-sized statue in 1961, and itfound a permanent home in thefountain outside of the FisherCommunity Center inMarshalltown.

Cover of magazineshows Fisherproducts used inpulp and paperprocessing, 1990

easy-e valve race car brochure, 1990

The J.W

. Fisher

Leadersh

ip A

ward


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

Control News newsletter is distributed to valve divisionemployees in Singapore.

Research and engineering center is added toSingapore plant.

Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme“Shaping Tomorrow...Today.” (Westin Plaza Hotel inRaffles City, Singapore)

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The Governor Road plant inMarshalltown focuses on

low-volume and specialtyproducts in two generalcategories: standard assemblies(valves 4 inches or smaller) andspecial or heavy assemblies(valves ranging from 6 to 24inches, weighing up to 10 tons,and/or severe service valves).

Severe service valves makeup about 18% of total GR outputand include Fisher patented low-noise and anti-cavitation trims.

Marshalltown also producesLevel-Trols, rotary specials (via anew value stream), steamconditioning valves anddesuperheaters, as well asbutterfly styles.

More than 550 GR employeesmachine, assemble and shipabout 1,000 complete valveassemblies each week (2005).Another 150 people providesupport via inventory control,customer service, accounting,scheduling and maintenance.

Ed Merwald, leader ofengineered products, says, “By providing Fisher engineeredsolutions, Emerson will lead themarket in solving customers’most difficult and critical valve applications.”

Plant manager Bob Bergeradded, “Marshalltown employeestake pride in building the bestthe industry has to offer. Theywork to maintain high Fisherstandards and pass thosestandards to the next generation.”

New plants open inRijswijk, TheNetherlands andHaan, Germany.


7,100 Fisher employees worldwide, 50 manufacturingand service centers in 22 countries, and 180 salesoffices in 75 countries.

Fisher Service Company facilities open in Montreal,Canada; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Benicia,California.

North Americasales meetingutilizes the theme“Fisher GoesHollywood.”(Disneyland Hotelin Anaheim,California)

Medway plant in England receives ISO 9000accreditation to international quality standards.

ENCORE re-manufactured valves program introduced.

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

Nasty substances flowthrough Fisher valves: oil

mixed with tar and sand; moltenpolymers; wood pulp; corrosiveseawater; and sulfuric acid, justto name a few. Valve plugging,leaks or failures in theseapplications can have expensiveand hazardous consequences.

Fisher severe serviceengineers work with local salespersonnel on the specifications,and then the engineeredproducts team in Marshalltown

builds the valve to meet thosetough application requirements.

The assemblies often includespecialized components andtrim options to address a host of problems. Dirty service trim(DST), for example, minimizesvalve plugging from entrainedparticles. WhisperFlo ® trimreduces valve noise. Cavitroltrim helps prevent thepotentially damaging effects ofcavitation and vibration.

Fisher-Marshalltown manu-

facturing also provides thecustom alloys and testingprocedures required to makethese valves reliable and costeffective.

In short, the Fisher valvedivision puts its 125 years ofexperience to work on thesespecialty valves, and no onedesigns or builds them better.

Eng

ineered

Prod

ucts

Fisher-Marshalltown’senvironmental stewardshipled to waste reduction andcommunity awareness, 1992

Fisher mobile van is thecomputer communicationscenter for Iowa State University’ssolar car, 1990


1992 Emerson purchases Fisher Controls fromMonsanto. Fisher Controls has 7000 employees;annual sales of $928 million; representatives anddirect sales offices in 75 countries; 23 manufacturingplants in 13 countries; and 60 training, manufacturingand service centers in 22 countries.

Fisher Controls Hong Kong Ltd. and Tianjin FourthAutomation Instrumentation Factory form a jointventure company in Tianjin, China.

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

Vee-Ball attenuator, emergency shut-off valve, aturbine bypass steam valve and Design SC cryogenicglobe valve are introduced.

Emer

son

In 1890, two Scottish-bornbrothers, Alexander and

Charles Meston, foundedEmerson Electric ManufacturingCo. in St. Louis, Missouri.

The two inventors developeduses for alternating-currentelectric motors, which were newat the time. The company wasnamed after former Missourijudge John Emerson, whofinanced the enterprise andbecame its first president.

Early products included an

electric fan introduced in 1892,followed by forced-air-circulating systems in 1910.

The Depression broughtEmerson close to bankruptcy,but a hermetic motor forrefrigerators revived it.

By 1973, annual sales hadclimbed to $800 million. Acommitment to acquisitions andglobal expansion also played arole in the growth of Emerson’sprocess control business.

In 1992, Emerson bought

Fisher Controls Internationalfrom Monsanto for $1.275billion.

Today, Emerson has fiveprimary business segments:appliances and tools; processmanagement (including theFisher valve division); climatetechnologies (compressors andthermostats); industrialautomation (motors and drives);and network power.

Emerson worldwide sales infiscal 2004 were $15.6 billion.

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

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

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

Fisher, Rosemount, Johnson-Yokogawa, Siemens andothers form the interoperable systems project for thedevelopment of a common international fieldbus standard.

1993 Fisher-Rosemount ™

family of companies isformed. It’s structured intoeight divisions: Fisher valves, Fisher regulators, Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Rosemount Analytical,Brooks Instrument, Rosemount Measurement, Micro Motion and Xomox. New logo used.

Dave Hunter succeeds BillLandholt as president of theFisher valve division.

Tianjin Fisher Controls Valve Co., Ltd.


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

The Fisher-Marshalltown site has more than 1,700 employees.

1994 FIELDVUE DVC5000 Series digital valvecontrollers and the Design SC cryogenic valve are introduced.

New plant opens in Bao’an, China.

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-TEKmakes steam conditioners and desuperheaters.

In 1993, Fisher brand strengthwas demonstrated when

Emerson Process Managementcreated the Fisher regulatordivision as a separate operatingunit. Headquartered inMcKinney, Texas, the Fisherregulator division produces andmarkets pressure regulatorproducts globally and brings$300 million to Emerson eachyear.

Today, the Fisher regulatordivision has manufacturing

locations in McKinney, Texas; Elk River, Minnesota; NuevoLaredo, Mexico; Sorocaba, Brazil;Gallardon, France; Selmsdorf,Germany; Bologna and Milan,Italy; Shanghai and ChengduChina; and Singapore. Thedivision also proudly continuesthe Fisher tradition ofinnovation, most recentlyintroducing the new EZ family ofpressure regulators. The TypesEZR, EZL and EZH enjoy wideacceptance in the natural gas

industry, providing pressurecontrol from wellhead to pilotlight.

Meanwhile, the Type 95 andType 98 pressure regulators(2004) and the Type SR stainlesssteel sanitary pressure regulatorset the standard for industrialapplications. The Fisherregulator division has a stake inthe LP-gas market and in 2005,Emerson acquired TESCOM, amanufacturer and marketer ofhigh pressure regulators.

Fisher R

egu

lator D

ivision

FIELDVUE DVC5000digital valve controller


1995 H.D. Baumann Associates ofPortsmouth, New Hampshire,acquired.

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n

1995 - H.D. Baumann Associatesacquired for their low flow,sanitary, corrosive service,industrial HVAC and generalservice control valves toenhance the Fisher productportfolio. Baumann 51000 serieslow flow valve and 24000 seriesbronze Little Scotty valve are introduced.

1997 - Baumann celebrates 20 years of business at theBoston Red Sox’s Fenway Park.

1999 - Baumann 24000C/Dcarbon and ductile iron seriesvalves introduced.

2002 - Move to new 50,000-square-foot facility atthe Pease InternationalTradeport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

2003 - Baumann 24000SVFseries valve introduced.

2004 - Portsmouth becomes the

prime ship for the FisherFIELDVUE DVC2000 digital valvecontroller in North America. Andthe name officially changes toFisher Controls International LLC.

2005 - First valve division site togo live with the Oracle ® system.Portsmouth becomes theassembly and prime ship site forthe Fisher GX valve in NorthAmerica. 2005 marks 28 years ofsuccessful Baumann business.

Fisher Sanmar Ltd. facility opens in Chennai, India. It isa joint venture between Fisher Controls and Sanmar Engineering Corporation.

FIELDVUE DVC5000 Series digital valve controllers areintroduced to the Asia-Pacific market.

Second building addition to the Pandan Crescentfacility in Singapore.

Employees go on-line via internal Web pages and the Internet.

CON-TEK plant in Atlanta, Georgia, increases itsproduction capacity.

Baumann facility(built in 2002) and20th anniversarycelebration in 1997

Charles F. Knight, chairman of Emerson, visitingthe joint venture facility, 1996


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

PlantWeb ® digital plant architectureand FloVue ™ final control systemintroduced.

Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizesthe theme “Performance ThroughDifferentiation.” (Singapore Regent Hotel)

1997 John Berra becomes president of the Fisher-Rosemount group of companies.

First live satellite broadcast, Fisher-Rosemount Live.

Marshalltown Center Street plant and Woodstockplant close.

New manufacturing plant opens in Szekesfehervar,Hungary.

1998 New plant opens in Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

WhisperFlo trim andPOSI-SEAL quarter-turnactuator introduced.

North America salesmeeting utilizes thetheme “We Expect to Win.” (WestinInnisbrook Resort inPalm Harbor, Florida)

Asia-Pacific salesconference utilizes the theme “Fisher, No Equal.” (Phuket, Thailand)

Today, Fisher control valves,instruments and regulators

are part of a comprehensiveportfolio of integrated fielddevices. These control devices —in conjunction with automationsystems, bus technology, andsoftware—make up the award-winning PlantWeb digitalplant architecture.

Recent studies show thatindustrial plants producing $500 million in annual revenuegive away an estimated $5 to

$10 million because of poorlyperforming devices andsystems. It follows then thatimprovements in equipmentmonitoring, control andcommunication would lead tocost savings and increased plantefficiency. With a PlantWebsolution, Emerson ProcessManagement delivers true plantoptimization.

Today, Fisher is one ofEmerson’s 60+ industry-leadingbrands. Collectively, as well as

individually, the customer-facingdivisions sell a host of integratedproducts and services toautomate and optimize anyplant operation.

In any given field or processindustry, Emerson ProcessManagement is the companythat customers rely upon.

Valves Part o

f PlantW

eb

View of Szekesfehervar plant, 2005

WhisperFlo trim


1999 New plant opensin Nilai, Malaysia.

Medway, U.K., plant closes and operations move toCernay, France.

Asia-Pacific sales conference in Singapore utilizes thetheme “Team Fisher.”

2000sFi

sher

Dig

ital

Dia

gn

ost

ics In the old-model Christmas

lights,the failure of one bulbcaused the whole string to godark. The fix meant checkingeach bulb, one by one.

Well, in the mid-1980s, thefailure of a single control valvecould shut down an entireprocess line. Traditionalmaintenance meant removingvalves, one by one, for visualinspections and repairs.

Fisher engineers, like BillFitzgerald and Ken Junk in

Marshalltown, turned theirexpertise to control valvediagnostics and predictivemaintenance. Bill envisioned avalve performance signaturecurve using digital datacollected with a personalcomputer. The evolution ofdigital communications led Kenand the development team todesign on-line PerformanceDiagnostics that pinpointfailures and providerecommended actions.

Product introductions like theFlowScanner valve diagnosticsystem (1990) and the FIELDVUEDVC5000 Series digital valvecontroller (1994) enabled usersto document control valveperformance and use that data toplan maintenance, rather thanreact to failures.

Additions to the FIELDVUEproduct family include DVC2000,DVC6000 and DVC6000f.

In 2005, the 500,000thFIELDVUE DVC was sold.

2000 Emerson spends $600 million on newtechnology including FOUNDATION fieldbus andPlantWeb architecture.

New products represent 36% of total sales.

900-plus page Control Valve Catalog is published.

Valve Dog posterspromote coreproducts, 1999

Pewter coaster gift forNilai’s grand opening

2002 PlantWeb dynamic performance loops open inSingapore and Cernay, France.

Fisher-Marshalltown manufacturingemployees produce the company’sfirst $1 million digital control valvefor a chemical project in China.

Type L2 liquid level controller andType D2 dump valve introduced.

Publications stockroom and othergroups move into the remodeledCenter Street building inMarshalltown.

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


2001 Fisher-Rosemount becomes Emerson ProcessManagement, one ofEmerson’s eightbusinesses.

FIELDVUE DVC6000Series digital valvecontroller, Type BV500 eplug ®

valve and FIELDVUEDVC6000 for safetyinstrumented systems are introduced.

Plants adopt lean manufacturing processes to reducewaste and speed throughput.

Emerson launches on-line, Web-based trainingopportunities 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)

In 2002 and 2003, the Fishervalve division opened

PlantWeb Dynamic PerformanceLaboratories in Marshalltown,Iowa; Cernay, France; andSingapore. These labs areworking process control loopsthat include a variety ofEmerson Process Managementfield devices linked to a DeltaV ™

automation control system. Each loop is surrounded by all

the resources needed toestablish remote video

connections between the Fishersite and any customer facility inthe world (where there is accessto the Internet).

Via these “live” connections,dynamic performance labtechnicians demonstrateproduct capabilities and testresults, assist customer training,and help sales personnel winprojects. Each lab represents asignificant investment and afresh opportunity to promotethe value of digital control

valves and diagnostics.The Marshalltown site alone

uses its PlantWeb DynamicPerformance Lab forpresentations to more than 450different customers each year.

Fisher products also play animportant role in the Austin,Texas, PlantWeb demon-strationsystem, which is 18 feet longand weighs 6000 pounds. Thisdemo is a working model of anoil and water separation unit.

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

Seeing

is Believin

g

Type L2


2003 Design GXcontrol valve, Design D4 control valve, FIELDVUE ®

PerformanceDiagnostics, Design V150S slurry Vee-Ball ® valve, andType DL3 digital leveltransmitter areintroduced.

Fisher-Marshalltownshares engineeringresources with theValve AutomationDivision. VADfocuses on electric andhydraulic actuators.

GX

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The GX valve was a real teameffort from the start. Market

research and extensive customerinterviews were conducted inEurope and Asia.

Design responsibility wasshared between Marshalltown,Chatham (U.K.) and Cernay.

Materials staff inMarshalltown, Szekesfehervar,Singapore and Nilai helpedidentify the best supplier foreach component.

Finally, the Singapore and

Szekesfehervar staff teamed upto design and build a newadvanced flow line for assemblyof the product using the latesttechnology and leanmanufacturing methods.

This assembly line wasdesigned to produce 7,000valves per annum based on 2shifts with 3 operators in eachshift. The operators performvalve and actuator assembly,seat-leak and friction testing,instruments mounting, final

assembly testing and packagingin this assembly line.

“The GX and DVC2000 is thebiggest opportunity we havehad to impact the Europeanmarket since the introduction ofFIELDVUE,” said Trevor Sands,vice president of valves EMA.

The Szekesfehervar plantmanufactures the GX for EMArequirements (2005).

The GX process line is thecenterpiece of the Wuqingfactory (2005).

Fisher-Marshalltownmanufacturing focuses onengineered products.

Worldwide manufacturingsites attain ISO 9000:2000registration.

New PlantWeb performance lab and technicalconference center open in Marshalltown.

Sherman plant receives the Emerson President’s PlantOperational Excellence Award.

Slurry Vee-Ball rotary valve

Design GX advertisement

Sherman employees, 2003


2004 Wuqingplant opensin Tianjin,China.

FIELDVUE DVC2000 digital valve controller is introduced.

Annual sales in China and Latin America grow 25% infiscal year 2004.

North Stonington, Connecticut, manufacturing plantcloses and production moves to Marshalltown, Iowaand Sherman, Texas.

Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” (Bangkok, Thailand)

Automation users, responding to CONTROL magazine’sreader survey, name Emerson Process Managementtheir top supplier. Emerson is ranked among FORTUNEmagazine’s “Most Admired” and well-managedcompanies.

2005 Asia-Pacific sales conference utilizes the theme“Mission Possible.” (Hyatt Regency in Macau, China)

North and Latin America sales conference utilizes thetheme “Best Bet.” (Las Vegas, Nevada) The event helpscelebrate 125 years of process control experience.Personnel from five divisions (valves, regulators, I&VS,solutions & services, flow computer division) gather torepresent the original Fisher Governor Company.

FIELDVUE DVC6000f (fieldbus) digital valve controllerand Type i2P-100 electro-pneumatic transducer are introduced.

Facilities around the world celebrate 125 years in business.

In 2005 the Fisher valve divisionissued posters to employees

that defined the customerpromise, mission and core values.

Our customer promise: Emersondelivers the true potential ofyour process through anunequalled combination ofPlantWeb architecture, industryexpertise, and Fisher best-in-class products andtechnologies...without fail,everywhere.

No equal in people andopportunities

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: leadershippositions in every market

We are driven to solve customer problems

We innovate, change and continuously improve

We act with integrity, accountability and ethics in everything we do

We are passionate 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, N

o Eq

ual

Everywh

ere

Artist’s rendering ofEmerson facility to bebuilt in Dubai, UnitedArab Emirates

80 | The Fisher StoryLo

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Though nothing is certain, weexpect that, even at the ripe

old age of 125, the best years ofthe Fisher valve division are stillto come. We will continue toearn and strengthen our #1position in the world—anenviable place to be. Thepatterns of success, the dedicat-ed people and the exceptionalproducts that brought us herewill power us ever upward formany years to come. Controlvalves are, and will continue to

be the foundation of the processcontrol industry. The marketsthat buy from us are vibrant andgrowing. Our associates andcustomers are loyal. And,Emerson will help us increasethe already incredible marketstrength of Fisher control valves.This solid and provenrelationship gives us great faithin the future.

Fisher design engineers arehard at work developing thenext wave of innovative valves

and instruments. Becoming“bigger and better” at what wedo is both our collective destinyand our reasonable expectation.The last 125 years have been amemorable and rewardingjourney. 2005 is a record year byall measures, the historicstrength of North America hasbeen duplicated around theworld. Thanks to everyone foryour continued efforts to makeFisher, No Equal, Everywhere.Our best days are truly yet to come.

A História da Fisher Controls

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Transcript of A História da Fisher Controls