Mitchel Group Inc/The history

The year 1927 saw another change of ownership, with the sale of the company by Schwabacher-Frey to G. A. Seiler, Sr.

During the war years of 1943-45, operations became dormant but the office remained open.

In 1945, the first postwar manual was issued with a new format.

Financier H. Merlyn Christie first incorporated the company as Roxoil Drilling on February 5, 1946.

In the late 1940s, Oil Drilling put together prospects for others and drilled as investors. It discovered or developed production in a score of Texas fields and in 1951 it began exploration and production operations in Alberta and on the Ontario side of Lake Erie.

Also in 1953, George Mitchell's older brother, engineer Johnny Mitchell, joined the firm.

In 1956 royalty owners in North Texas's Wise County--where CM&M had drilled 57 oil wells and 103 gas wells in 34 separate fields--began to grow impatient with CM&M which, because of low gas prices, was keeping gas shut-in.

The Federal Power Commission had rejected this first deal and did not approve a spur into Wise County until 1957.

In 1962 the Mitchell brothers bought out Merlyn Christie's remaining stock and changed the company's name to Mitchell & Mitchell Gas & Oil.

In 1963 George Mitchell bought the Grogan-Cochran Land Company, whose 50,000-acre tract in Montgomery and Grimes Counties would later figure prominently in Mitchell Energy's real estate developments.

In 1965 he purchased pulling (workover) units for the North Texas division and began to buy out the other investors in the GM&A Gas Products Plant.

In 1966 he purchased the remaining interest in 53,250 Lake Erie acres from Livingston Oil and Gas and bought a controlling interest in Gulf Gas, which owned 100 miles of pipeline in Texas's Eastland, Callahan, Brown, and Coleman Counties.

In 1969 Mitchell formed Brazos Gas Compressing to provide compression service for the company's Southwestern and West Cen-Texpipeline systems.

In 1970 it leased its first acreage off the Texas shore through a joint venture with Diamond Shamrock, Inc. and the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America.

In 1971 it changed its name to Mitchell Energy & Development Corporation and went public in February of that year, issuing 770,000 shares of common stock (about 4.5 percent of total) to finance long-term growth prospects.

In 1973 Mitchell expanded its gas gathering systems, acquiring 25 percent of the Ken-Ohio Pipeline in Ohio.

In 1974 he entered the contract drilling business by forming MND Drilling to support his North Texas operations; he also acquired Butler Drilling's assets to support Gulf Coast operations for $9.3 million.

As The Woodlands crossed the break even point, earning $8.7 million (about 10 percent of Mitchell's net) in 1978, the company returned to acquisitions.

Gas processing had long been an important activity for the company but in 1979--when the government lifted controls on natural gas liquids--operating earnings from the company's gas processing segment soared from $27 million in 1979 to $99 million two years later.

And in 1980 its daily NGL production of 35,500 barrels accounted for 28 percent of its $696 million in sales and 45 percent of its $221 million in operating earnings.

Mitchell Energy continued making acquisitions and in 1982 reported revenues topping $1 billion and net income of $115.2 million.

Revenues fell to $595 billion, and profits fell to a relatively infinitesimal $8.4 million in 1986.

The next year, in 1987, Mitchell entered the commercial vehicle segment of the industry by publishing the first edition of the Mitchell Manual for Light, Medium & Heavy Duty Truck Maintenance, which also included service operations.

In 1989 the company made $30.4 million on revenues of $658 million.

In 1991 it produced 60.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas and approximately 18 million barrels of oil, condensate, and natural gas liquids.

But natural gas prices plummeted again in 1992, and the company reorganized its exploration and production division to reduce staff and focus on both a substantial backlog of undrilled wells in proven areas such as North Texas, Southeast New Mexico, East Central Texas, and the Texas Gulf Coast.

Founded in 1994, Mitchell Group Investments Inc., is the parent company to the Mitchell Group of Companies, which operates in the development, home building, property management, and retail industries.

In 1996, the commercial truck printed manuals were replaced with ON-DEMAND™ Truck Edition on CD-ROM, the industry’s first computerized repair information system for medium and heavy trucks.

And in 1998, OnDemand4 was released, the industry’s first automotive repair data on DVD — a 32-bit application with all information delivered on a single DVD instead of multiple CDs.

Ken and Lyle worked together on many commercial and residential projects prior to Lyle’s retirement in 2000.

In 2002, Mitchell 1 took the next big step and introduced OnDemand5.com™ – a web-based application accessed online, greatly increasing the technician’s ability to retrieve repair information quickly.

In 2004, a group of aftermarket shop owners met in a series of focus groups and the concept of a consumer loyalty management solution was overwhelmingly endorsed as a much-needed resource to help shop owners retain existing customers and acquire new ones.

That meeting led to the introduction of the Customer Retention Marketing (CRM) service, launched in 2005 with service reminder postcards sent to consumers on behalf of shops.

OEM service reminder emails were added to the service in 2006.

And in 2009, the system transitioned to an SQL database platform and SE was added to the product name — Manager™ SE — to mark the new generation of the software.

The commercial vehicle group introduced Repair>Connect in 2010, a powerful diagnostic trouble code procedures software based on advanced search technology to return related repair information for the specific vehicle configuration and DTC selected.

In 2011, the marketing service took another leap forward to include social media and other digital marketing strategies, and was renamed SocialCRM to encompass the new slate of services offered to help auto repair shops grow their businesses.

In 2012, the auto repair information trusted by generations of service professionals was transformed again, this time presented in ProDemand®, launching the next generation of Mitchell 1’s renowned automotive service data.

In 2013, TruckLabor was released, the first comprehensive labor time estimating product for medium and heavy trucks.

And in 2015, Mitchell 1’s industry-leading suite of Class 4-8 truck repair solutions was consolidated into a single module-based application called TruckSeries

In 2016, the software expanded to cover medium and heavy trucks with the launch of Manager™ SE Truck Edition, designed for shops that work on Class-4-8 vehicles.

In 2017, ProDemand introduced 1Search™ Plus, a major enhancement based on advanced search technology.

And momentum continues in 2018, with new technologies being developed and many enhancements planned for all product lines.