News Release 12-03-04
HCR, INC. JOINS JAMISON DOOR
LEWISTOWN, MONTANA (Dec. 3rd, 2004) - HCR Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of re-circulatory air doors, today announced its sale to the Jamison Door Company, the 99 year-old leading manufacturer of cold storage and specially-engineered doors of Hagerstown, Maryland. HCR Inc., in its 30th year, is the door manufacturer that pioneered air door technology for the cold storage and grocery distribution industries. The purchase price was not disclosed.
"HCR is excited about joining the Jamison Door Company. We have known and respected Jamison’s quality products and service for many years. Being part of the Jamison team provides HCR with so many additional competitive advantages, including engineering support and with sales and customer service. Jamison will now offer proprietary HCR air door technology as part of its product line. It’s a perfect fit, and holds many opportunities for continuing growth at HCR,"said Pete Smith, President of HCR, Inc.
All of HCR’s models will continue to be manufactured at the Lewistown facility. HCR will continue to be managed by current President Pete Smith and Executive Vice-President Chester Hart. Both officers will join the board of directors at the Jamison Door Company.
HCR is located in Lewistown, the geographical center of Montana. The company relocated there in July 1991 from the Washington DC metropolitan area.
With the addition of HCR air door products, Jamison now offers all possible cold storage door solutions, making Jamison Door Company the world’s largest manufacturer of cold storage doors.
"Securing advanced technologies such as HCR’s air door systems is Jamison’s direct response to the industry’s demand for products that increase efficiencies and reduce operational costs. With HCR we get both," said John T. Williams, Jamison’s Chairman/CEO. "Of all of the possible additions Jamison could make, we chose a company with a completely unique technology. It is a company that is without question the largest and the best at what they do. We believe this technology will certainly play a large part in the future of cold storage."
Cold storage doors are used to provide insulated barriers for openings in coolers and freezers in commercial and industrial applications such as food processing, food distribution, and refrigerated warehouses. Conventional cold storage doors are solid, and provide high-speed opening and closing features to allow for quick passage of warehouse personnel, while also providing special thermal sealing capabilities to maintain proper cooler or freezer temperatures. For instance, freezer applications may range from -15 degrees inside the freezer to ambient temperatures (70+ degrees) outside the facility. Jamison Door currently holds more than 60% market share of the cold storage rigid door market, supplying the industry with 56 various models of rigid doors, including sliding doors, bi-folding doors, overhead/vertical doors, and swing doors. For high-traffic openings, those that experience a large number of opening/closing cycles per hour, a barrier-free opening such as an Air Door is often the most economical solution.
At the core of HCR’s success was the genius of founder George Smith, who studied and interpreted freezer and cooler applications from the refrigeration engineer's point of view. His extensive research and work in the frosting and defrosting of evaporator coils made him one of the world’s leading authorities on air infiltration into freezers and coolers.
Pete Smith, George’s son, and Chester Hart have been a key part of the company since the beginning. Their unique engineering approach uses the scientific principle of Psychrometrics, the study of heat transfer and ice formation in cold storage environments. In 1974, the start-up company was named HCR, after the initials of its working principle: a Horizontally directed air stream that travels in a Curvilinear path and is Re-circulatory.
Today, HCR has a complete line of successful and highly energy efficient open-doorway products for application in grocery store distribution centers, refrigerated warehouses and food processing plants from -40°F freezers to non-freezer applications. HCR has over 500 clients, including Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods, Sav-A-Lot Corporation, and SYSCO Foods.
"In addition to the Jamison’s outstanding reputation for product quality and customer service, HCR will also benefit greatly from Jamison’s wide network of sales representatives. We are very excited about our future as part of their team, and look forward to further developing the technology together," said Pete Smith.
More detailed product and company information can be found at www.jamisondoor.com and www.hcr-inc.com.