In southeast Texas, a swashbuckling Aussie ex-pat named Alan Johncock co-founds a Turbo-machinery company with partners that is named patriotically 'Tri-Sen' to honor the Bi-Centennial year. The first product is a M300 Electro Pneumatic Speed Controller. In 1980, a year before IBM releases the PC, Tri-Sen releases the first digital governor developed, the TS500, which would forever change the market for turbine speed control.
In 1992, Tri-Sen was acquired by Irvine California based Triconex. Tri-Sen executives and Triconex CEO William K. Barkovitz recognized the synergies for both companies to grow the market. The acquisition was completed in 1993 for 8 million dollars in cash. Triconex continued to grow by acquistions, purchasing Baton Rouge based Premier Safety Systems from Kirk Clark and Phil Blanchard for one million. By 1995, Triconex was firmly established in turbo-machinery and safety markets using their flagship platform - the Tricon controller which had been developed a decade earlier under the leadership of Gary Hufton.
In 2007, the son of the now retired Triconex CEO, William K. Barkovitz Jr. purchased Tri-Sen back from corporate parent Invensys and became the firm's chief executive.
Today, Alan Johncock runs the Lone Star Motorcycle Museum in Texas, a 'Top Ten' stop for bike enthusiasts. Triconex alumni, whose executives traced their lineage back to legendary companies like General Automation, have gone on to found other enterprises. The founding partners of Wonderware, including co-founders Dennis Morin and Phil Huber were software engineers at Triconex. Like Apple Computer, Wonderware was also founded on April fool's day.
What can be learned from these entrepreneurial heroes that we can apply to today's enterprises? A culture of relentless quality, team work, learning from mistakes (first you have to be willing to make them) and moving forward.
Above all, make time for your personal Zen, especially in the fine art of maintenance.
Gary L. Wilkinson
