HCR Inc. is a spin-off of a very successful mechanical contracting company in the Washington DC area founded by George R. Smith, P.E., refrigeration engineer for over 40 years, a highly respected member of ASHRAE (also author of "Refrigeration Loads" in the 1994 ASHRAE handbook), member of IIAR, IARW, Chairman of the monitoring committee for ASHRAE-sponsored research into the frosting and defrosting of evaporator coils ... and probably the world's foremost expert in air infiltration into freezers and coolers.

Believing there had to be a better solution for fork truck traffic through doorways with heavy, slow-moving, cold storage doors and even fast-acting, external electrically-heated utility doors that separated freezers from coolers and/or loading docks, George set out to solve this dilemma. Based on a fresh engineering approach and coupled with the scientific principle of Psychrometrics, his first product, a very unique air curtain, was developed and became a huge success in the food distribution industry. It separated sub-zero, dry freezer air from the warmer, moist loading dock air without the need of a door... and eliminated all ice, frost, and condensation in all forms from the doorway and the floor in the process!

Wishing to devote more time toward the development of additional open doorway products, HCR was created. In tribute to the success of his first product, George named the company HCR, after the initials of its working principle: a Horizontally directed air stream that travels in a Curvilinear path and is Re-circulatory.

That was 1974. 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.

Although HCR has grown as a company and its products have become legendary in the industry, the company philosophy remains the same today as it did then: to provide unconditional guarantees of customer satisfaction with every product!

HCR Inc. is located in the geographical center of Montana ... Lewistown. Relocating here in July 1991 from the Washington DC area of Maryland and Virginia, HCR has become a vital resource for the local community. All of HCR's models are manufactured here in their entirety. In fact, HCR handles complete production, from design, to manufacturing, testing and installations. With the ability to custom design units and ship anywhere, HCR products have been in use all over the world, and HCR is widely recognized as the leader in the industry.