PESCO 50-Year Anniversary

Process Equipment & Service Company, Inc., also known as PESCO, is celebrating 50 years of service. This family-owned business has a foundation of leadership that is dedicated to service within the company and to the community. PESCO was founded in 1970, by Ed and Mary Lou Rhodes. Ed provided field service and pump repair, while Mary Lou handled the clerical duties and ran the parts counter. Ed had a vast knowledge of production equipment, which he translated into manufacturing, growing his company into an industry leader.

Fifty years later, PESCO remains a part of the Rhodes family with Ed and Mary Lou’s sons Kyle and Jim managing it. “PESCO is all I’ve ever known. Working with mom and dad was fulfilling, interesting, and at times frustrating. We had a closeness that I’ll always cherish,” PESCO President Kyle Rhodes said.

“I’ll always remember how dad would model his faith as I would quite often catch him on his knees in prayer.”

Kyle’s brother Jim is the vice president of engineering, quality management systems and research and development. “Working with my brother Jim has been phenomenal. We make a great team because our gifts complement each other,” Kyle said. “We’re both degreed engineers, but Jim is easily the most intelligent and gifted engineer that I’ve ever been around. PESCO would not be here without his designs and expertise.”

Kyle said that he and Jim discussed coming back to Farmington and taking over the family business when they were in college, and they knew if it happened, they would do it as a team. “We knew we would be working 60-hour weeks, which has not changed much in the last 40 years, and our starting wage would be 30% less than other starting engineers,” he said.

Those Christian values have translated into the businesses core values of Integrity, Mutual Respect & Trust, and Commitment to Excellence, and when management at PESCO brings someone into the business as an employee, vendor or customer they share those same values, and that makes them family. The Rhodes like to say that “family is more than just blood.” Every one of the company’s 218 manufacturing employees and 13 field service operations employees are part of the PESCO family, along with every vendor and customer.

PESCO even has an employee success manager on its team. Craig Curry says finding how he is able to make a difference in the lives of PESCO employees builds relationships that lead to trust and teamwork. It also opens the door to conversations of “assistance, care, and improvement,” which creates opportunities to celebrate successes.

“Every day seems like a fresh walk on a new trail to see what adventure we get to have,” Curry said. “Not every adventure is easy or fun, but it takes us to a new place where we get to see how service, sacrifice, and risk has made a difference for employees, customers, and community.”

Randy Large joined that adventure in November 2014, when he joined PESCO.

Chief Financial Officer Linda Rodgers echoed Large’s sentiment. “Our leadership team is a fantastic group of hard-working, talented, and honest people. We have faced many challenges together as a group and emerged stronger and better because of those challenges.

I have tremendous respect for this team and am humbled by their dedication and commitment to PESCO,” she said.

Michelle Wilcox is one of PESCO’s engineers. She was born and raised in Farmington and was familiar with PESCO and its reputation for quality. “When the opportunity presented itself to work here, I jumped on it. I loved the idea of working for a family-owned business, where I could learn from experts and further my career while maintaining a work-life balance,” she said. “I love PESCO’s dedication to employees and the community, and it’s fun to be part of an organization that is always adapting, improving, and striving to provide the best value for our customers.”

PESCO is always ready to meet the customers’ needs by manufacturing the best equipment available in the industry to meet their needs. “We will always tell you the truth. If there is a problem, we will let you know and work with you to resolve it. We will deliver on-time, within the budget. We know we are a small part of a larger mission for the companies we work with, and we want to ensure we are doing everything in our power to meet their equipment needs,” Rodgers said.

It is no surprise that PESCO was named Business of the Year by the Farmington Chamber of Commerce in 2014, with its core values and philosophy of service, that translates outside the walls of its nearly 160,000 square feet of production space. PESCO’s leaders serve their communities and work to make them better places. The company is a community leader in manufacturing trade education. Kyle Rhodes serves on the Farmington Municipal Schools’ Board of Education, and Rodgers is a Farmington City Councilor. PESCO also partners with the Navajo Nation to provide employment opportunities for tribal members.

It is this dedication to building relationships and building better communities that made Supply Chain Manager Logan Myers want to work for PESCO. “My journey began in a flooded office in Houston. The call I received from PESCO that day was not the usual check-in, it was a job offer,” he said. “Excited at the prospect of a new challenge and ready for a change of scenery, I jumped at the opportunity.”