Paul Mueller history

1944 marked our first venture into the food processing business.

1946: The company is incorporated.

To support its growing business Mueller built a new 23,720-square-foot manufacturing plant in Springfield in 1950.

In 1960 the company began manufacturing stainless steel storage tanks.

Over the years, Mueller spawned a number of stainless steel fabricating companies, making Springfield in the eyes of some "Tank Town United StatesA." One of Paul Mueller's first employees, Milo Letsch, launched his own stainless steel company, Letsch Corp., in 1968.

Mueller went public in 1969, fueling further growth.

In 1970, a partnership with Meko Holland was formed to handle sales of milk tanks in The Netherlands.

During this period, there was a change in leadership, as Paul Mueller, who stayed on as chairman, turned over the chief executive officer position to Lawrence P. Mueller in 1976.

In 1981, manufacture of our Temp-Plate® heat transfer surface was moved to the Warren Street facility in Springfield, Missouri.

In April 1982 Lawrence Mueller resigned, citing personal reasons, and was replaced on an interim basis by Daniel C. Manna, vice-president of engineering.

Two Paul Mueller employees then bought Letsch in 1984, and renamed it Precision Stainless Inc. to compete with Mueller in the custom stainless steel business.

In January 1987 the company acquired a water purification product line.

In 1988, SSP (A Dutch manufacturing company) opened and began manufacturing Mueller dairy tanks in Lichtenvoorde, Netherlands.

In 1990 Mueller posted $77.8 million in annual sales, while earning more than $5.6 million.

Owning 90 shares of stock, the union, with support from an institutional investor, attempted to elect a dissident member to the company's board of directors. It also attempted to have a shareholder rights plan, a "poison-pill provision" adopted in 1991, put to a vote.

Net income during this period bottomed out at $2.2 million in 1993.

In addition, in 1994 Mueller extended a license agreement with a Dutch company to manufacture and sell its dairy farm equipment in Europe.

Manufacturing and marketing for evaporator assemblies began in 1995.

In February 1997 Mueller acquired property in downtown Springfield to build a microbrewery and brewpub, which opened in December of that year as the Springfield Brewing Company.

In 1998, Mueller Field Operations, Inc. was established to enable us to compete for larger contracts that require on-site fabrication of tanks and other equipment.

In 2000 the company was once again at odds with the Sheet Metal Workers union.

In 2001 the company finally reached a new agreement with the Sheet Metal Workers union, but because of a number of factors the company suffered a setback.

In 2003 the industrial equipment segment again led the way, with sales for the year approaching $92 million, a significant improvement over the $78.2 million recorded the prior year.

In 2008, Paul Mueller Company acquired our long-time licensee, SSP Lichtenvoorde [The Netherlands] B.V., and formed Mueller B.V. Mueller B.V. manufactures dairy farm equipment products, serving beer tanks, and a full range of heat transfer and processing equipment for international markets.

In August 2011, David Moore became President and CEO of Paul Mueller Company.

In 2012, Mueller Asia was established in Vietnam to provide sales, manufacturing, and dealer support to an emerging dairy market.

In 2014, Dairy Farm Equipment the company and many of our dealers celebrated 60 years of providing milk cooling solutions.

In 2016, DEG Engineering GmbH, a German company specializing in thermo-plate heat exchanger and reactor design was acquired.