Paul Mueller Company's successes continue

When Paul Mueller and his business partner, Gordon Mann, opened a heating and sheet metal company in 1940 in the old James Welding Building on Olive Street, they had one employee.

"Today we have 876 employees," said Donald Golik, Paul Mueller senior vice president, chief financial officer and secretary. Golik confirms the story of the company's early origins and its successes through the years.

That first company eventually moved to 1000 W. Phelps St. In 1943, Mann, suffering from poor health, sold his interest to Mueller.

Three years later, the newly incorporated Paul Mueller Company entered the dairy equipment market, making cheese vats, presses and culture tanks.

The Paul Mueller Co. today manufactures stainless steel equipment for the dairy, food, brewery, beverage, pure water and pharmaceutical industries, as well as making industrial processing equipment.

The dairy manufacturing includes milk cooling and storage equipment and accessories, refrigeration units and heat recovery equipment.

Industrial Sales

Industrial equipment sales, according to Golik, are about 76 percent of total revenues, and dairy equipment sales are about 24 percent.

The company has been active in international markets for more then 45 years and ships products to more than 45 countries yearly. International sales account for more than 20 percent of sales.

Golik said that sales totalled $28.88 million during the third quarter of 2000, compared to $23.6 million during the third quarter of 1999.

Total sales last year, he said, were $102,113,000, compared with 1999 sales of $92,572,000.

The Mueller Company has been publicly traded on the NASDAQ National Market, since its initial stock offering of 250,000 shares in 1969. During the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2000, earnings per share totalled $3.29, a substantial increase over the previous year's earnings of $1.60 per share.

Golik gives employees credit for the company's success. "We have a highly skilled work force with a very strong work ethic," he said. "That has enabled us to produce world-class quality products over the years."

Besides Golik, the executive officers of the Paul Mueller Company are Paul Mueller, chairman of the board of directors, and Daniel C. Manna, president. Mueller also has served as a member of the president's advisory council for Drury University and as a board member of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. He has also been active in the American Red Cross.

Paul Mueller was bom in Denver on Aug. 7, 1915. The family moved to Springfield in 1934, and he married Nadine Parker in 1938.

They have seven children, all bom in Springfield.

Paul and Nadine Mueller have spent time at their home in Springfield, on a farm in Strafford and at residences in Florida and Colorado.