Our understanding of the history of the company is that it started in 1972, which would make 2012 our 40th anniversary! So there is a bit of pride when we talk about our presence in the industry. As far as ownership goes, as we know it, there have been at least three owners since inception. Currently, the Phelan family holds the ownership stake in TriFactor and has such since 1993 when the company was named Advanced Handling Systems. Prior to 1993, Gary Thompson owned, among other companies, Advanced Handling Systems which had two offices, one in Cincinnati and one here in Lakeland, FL. When Jack Phelan purchased the Lakeland office of AHS in 1993, there instantly became two very similar companies with the same name in the same industry and we lived amicably with that situation until 2008 when we decided to change our name to TriFactor. I’m not sure how long Gary owned AHS prior to Jack purchasing the Lakeland office, but I do know that he was not the original owner. So public records have the company starting in 1972, but the details of the ownership between the original owner and Gary are still an unknown that I’m satisfied can remain in the unsolved mysteries vault.
