Branom Instrument Co

Branom Instrument Co. was founded on January 1, 1947 when as a young accountant, Ray Branom and his wife Vera decided to take their life’s savings and purchased a half interest in a small industrial instrument company that dabbled in war surplus and process instruments. The $2000 they had painstakingly saved over 10 years’ time was a large amount of money in those days (a new house cost around $5,000); yet by then, Mr. Branom had some experience with the instrument industry and was inspired to become a partner in his own company.

Mr. Branom was introduced to the instrument industry due to the requirements of World War II. After graduating from the University of Idaho in Moscow with a BS degree in Accounting, Mr. Branom had come to Seattle to earn his MBA at the University of Washington. The war, however, sent him to the shipyards, where he was placed in the Instrument Test Engineering Group.  After the war, Mr. Branom decided that he liked the instrument business, and secured a job as a salesman for the Instrument Laboratory in Seattle. After a while, another company, Instrument Sales, Inc. learned about Mr. Branom and felt he would be a major asset and courted him.

Mr. Branom, now a full partner, immediately implemented his philosophy and sales strategy. Mr. Branom always stated that the three most important aspects of any business can be expressed simply: Service, Service, Service. He believed if you want people to buy your product, you must be there in person to demonstrate it and you must gain the customer’s trust by providing the best possible product along with the best possible price and service.

Mr. Branom also introduced the then brand-new concept of vertical marketing. Previously, sales were conducted only on a geographical basis. Mr. Branom, however, realized that specialized market segments required specialized skills and training, and made sure that the salespeople were given either market segments or geographic territories. To this day, this has proved to be the company’s most successful strategy.

In 1949, Mr. Branom’s partner died, and Mr. Branom become sole owner. In 1952, he brought in Mr. Gene Leeland as a partner, and they changed the name of the company to Branom and Leeland Instrument Company. Mr. Leeland left the company in 1965 to run a subsidiary company known as Northwest Filter Company. Mr. Branom then made the last change of the name of the company to Branom Instrument Co.

 In July of 2018 Branom Instrument Co. was acquired by new owner and CEO Mike Lauer. Mr. Lauer had a long running interest in the measurement, control and automation industry. Also, he held aspirations of assuming a CEO role in a company in which he had significant ownership interest. Mr Lauer was drawn to Branom Instrument Co. because of its trusted reputation in the industry. Moving forward under Mr. Lauer’s leadership the team at Branom will still adhere to Ray Branom’s original philosophy that the three most important aspects of any business can be expressed simply: Service, Service, Service.

Branom Instrument Co. always strives to implement the basic business philosophy of fairness, whether in dealing with employees or customers. Doing what is fair and right has inspired tenured loyalty with both employees and customers and is one of the hallmarks which place Branom above its competitors.

The Branom Instrument Co. also believes in sharing the wealth of its profits to with the employees, customers and shareholders. Customers receive the best products at the best prices and the best service possible; and the employees are fairly compensated and rewarded for their efforts. In fact, the majority of the company’s profits are routinely put back into the company for raises, benefits and increased stock and capabilities.

Branom Instrument Co. has evolved from a mostly pneumatic and hydraulic mechanical instrument supplier to a state-of-the-art distributor of high-quality process control instrumentation specializing in the Aerospace, Cement, Food & Beverage, Irrigation, Oil and Gas, Marine, Semiconductor, Water & Waste Water, Aggregate and Wood Products markets and providing expert consultation for successfully controlling and monitoring processes and operations.