Message from John Owens:

Owens Companies, Inc. Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Owens Companies, Inc. recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary. Founded by my father, the late Robert H. Owens in 1957, Owens Companies was one of the first in the country to create a single source service organization.

In 1957, Bob Owens was appointed the District Manager of the Twin Cities office of the Trane Company. With the acceleration of installations of large tonnage chillers, the need for a service organization to provide warranty, preventive maintenance, and repair service on these chillers became apparent. Owens Service Company was founded.

The company developed some of the first preventive and predictive maintenance programs in the industry, including the concept of laboratory oil analysis, after learning of its use in the airline industry.

Owens continued the association with the Trane Company until 1973 when Bob Owens decided they could better serve the marketplace as an independent contractor. At the time, building owners had multiple suppliers for all of the different systems in their facilities. And for some that had more than one type of chiller, they were required to use different manufacturers as well. So it was easy to see how customers could get caught in the middle of all these service providers.

Owens set out to build what would become the first true "single-source service" provider. In addition to the service of all chiller manufacturers, as well as all air conditioning, heating and temperature control systems, the company added Water Treatment, Energy Management, Design/Build Contracting and Building Operation divisions to round out the organization. In 2000, the Company bought an existing residential contracting firm, which became the Home Comfort Division within Owens Companies.

Bob Owens was a founding member of the Service and Maintenance Bureau (SMB) of MCAA, known today as the Mechanical Service Contractors of America (MSCA). Owens Companies is also a founding member of the Chiller Systems Group.

Owens Companies is a 25 year member of the Keystone Award Program in the Twin Cities, annually contributing 5% of income to charitable organizations. Bob Owens passed away in March of 2006 having retired two years earlier. [Obituary of Bob Owens from Contracting Business magazine: "The HVAC Industry Loses a Pioneer and Friend".]

Thank you for allowing me to share some company history with you. We appreciate your ongoing trust.

John J. Owens
CEO & President

Owens Companies Inc. 930 East 80th Street Bloomington, Minnesota 55420 Ph: 952.854.3800 Fax: 952.854.3769

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