Triconex, with less than 100 employees worldwide (90 of them in Irvine), had its IPO in March, 1992. It was a great day for the employees that were hired from 1986-1989 after the re-organization. The IPO raised millions and was engineered by CEO William Barkovitz and CFO Charlie McBrayer. The company was now growing at a 20-25% annual rate, it had turned a profit less than 2 years earlier after beginning operations in March, 1984, an insufferably long time for impatient VC investors. Among those early Triconex employees who did not cash in on the Triconex IPO were Dennis Morin, Phil Huber, Cole Chevalier, Bill Urone, Jerry Cuckler, Linda Ellison and Diane Castignetti, but they more than made up for it a year later at the Wonderware IPO!
With some cash, Bill Barkovitz went shopping to expand the company. In June, 1993, he paid 8 million for Tri-Sen, a La Marque, Texas based manufacturer of turbo-machinery systems. Tri-Sen had been founded by Australian turned Texan Alan Johncock, with technical wizard John Mitchell becoming a partner later. Tri-Sen had already acquired a reputation of excellence in the turbo-machinery industry with reliable low cost systems and value added applications experts.
In January, 1994 , Mr. Barkovitz handed a one million dollar check to Kirk Clark and Phil Blanchard for their Premier Safety Systems company, based in Baton Rouge. Founded four years earlier, it was located in an industry sweet spot and had the right safety systems analysis expertise at the right time when industry demand for safety was rapidly expanding. Now, Triconex could add their market leading safety critical controller with applications expertise.
When Alan Johncock left Tri-Sen after the purchase to pursue riding motorcycles (later opening a museum dedicated to bikes), Triconex operations VP Lam Soon Ving asked Phil Blanchard to move to La Marque to run Tri-Sen. Phil and his wife Vicki reluctantly agreed to commute each week. The Tri-Sen product line was getting expensive to manufacture, and margins were low, especially in the mill industry which was beginning to whither by the late 1990's.
Triconex eventually made a strategic decision not to invest further in Tri-Sen product development, but the value added applications group kept growing as customers gained trust in the market leader. Competition for projects from integrators was not as fierce in the highly specialized field.
In 2007, Invensys, the corporate parent of Triconex, sold Tri-Sen to William Barkovitz Jr., a former Triconex VP of Sales and son of William Barkovitz, who had originally bought the company. The new Tri-Sen attracted some of the original employees and is expanding internationally, particularly in China.
The History of a Safer World has documented the rise, fall, and transformation of these companies, and recorded the best stories!
With some cash, Bill Barkovitz went shopping to expand the company. In June, 1993, he paid 8 million for Tri-Sen, a La Marque, Texas based manufacturer of turbo-machinery systems. Tri-Sen had been founded by Australian turned Texan Alan Johncock, with technical wizard John Mitchell becoming a partner later. Tri-Sen had already acquired a reputation of excellence in the turbo-machinery industry with reliable low cost systems and value added applications experts.
In January, 1994 , Mr. Barkovitz handed a one million dollar check to Kirk Clark and Phil Blanchard for their Premier Safety Systems company, based in Baton Rouge. Founded four years earlier, it was located in an industry sweet spot and had the right safety systems analysis expertise at the right time when industry demand for safety was rapidly expanding. Now, Triconex could add their market leading safety critical controller with applications expertise.
When Alan Johncock left Tri-Sen after the purchase to pursue riding motorcycles (later opening a museum dedicated to bikes), Triconex operations VP Lam Soon Ving asked Phil Blanchard to move to La Marque to run Tri-Sen. Phil and his wife Vicki reluctantly agreed to commute each week. The Tri-Sen product line was getting expensive to manufacture, and margins were low, especially in the mill industry which was beginning to whither by the late 1990's.
Triconex eventually made a strategic decision not to invest further in Tri-Sen product development, but the value added applications group kept growing as customers gained trust in the market leader. Competition for projects from integrators was not as fierce in the highly specialized field.
In 2007, Invensys, the corporate parent of Triconex, sold Tri-Sen to William Barkovitz Jr., a former Triconex VP of Sales and son of William Barkovitz, who had originally bought the company. The new Tri-Sen attracted some of the original employees and is expanding internationally, particularly in China.
The History of a Safer World has documented the rise, fall, and transformation of these companies, and recorded the best stories!
No comments:
Post a Comment