Happy 100th Birthday, Bahnson, Inc.

Bahnson, Inc., Winston-Salem, NC, is celebrating 100 years in business this summer. The company was originally formed as the Normalaire Company in Winston-Salem in 1915 by Agnew Bahnson, Sr., Fred Bahnson, and James Gray to manufacture and sell electric humidifiers to the textile industry throughout the southeast.

Today, Bahnson is one of the largest specialty engineering, fabrication, and mechanical contractors in the U.S., with clients ranging  from local companies to some of the world’s largest engineering and construction companies, and drug manufacturers. Bahnson, Inc. is a subsidiary of EMCOR Group, Inc.

Bahnson has provided a unique combination of engineering, construction management, proprietary product offerings, service and maintenance, and installation capabilities. EMCOR acquired Bahnson in 2011.

The company changed its name to “The Bahnson Company” in 1929 and became a leader in the innovation and design of the highest quality HVAC products for the textile industry through the 1960s, opening a 30,000 square foot plant in Winston-Salem in 1965.  The company remained family owned until 1968, when it was sold to Hillman Coal & Coke Company. In the 1980s Flakt AB, a Swedish company, purchased the company and operated it for a decade before selling it to a Swiss company, which renamed the company Luwa Bahnson in 1991.

Bahnson enjoyed unprecedented growth under ownership by Luwa and served a wide range of industrial and commercial markets, including the textile, automotive, tobacco, microelectronic, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical, biomedical, electric utility, waste cleanup and educational sectors. Numerous acquisitions by Bahnson in the late 1990s and the early 2000s enabled the company to enter new market areas and broaden its customer base.

“Throughout its history, Bahnson has remained a market leader in designing, installing, and servicing sophisticated high quality air handling and treatment systems for a broad range of complex industrial, institutional and commercial applications,” stated Joe Keane, vice president of Bahnson Mechanical Systems.

“Our diverse technical capabilities have distinguished Bahnson from its competitors and solidified its position as a strategic business partner for companies competing in both traditional and high tech industries throughout the U.S. and abroad,” Keane said. bahnson.com