For 74 years, the equipment, construction and maintenance services company AMECO was a team player, working across the globe in jobs as diverse as mining operations in the Third World to war zones and oil refineries.
But now in its 75th year, the company has set forth on its own.
Founded in 1947 as the in-house equipment and tool supplier of Greenville’s iconic Daniel Construction Co., the company was known through the 2010s as American Equipment Co., during which time it grew into a $1 billion segment of Daniel’s successor, Fluor Corp., which later rebranded the division as AMECO.
But gradually the company came into its own.
“What happened was, we were able to create a private company mentality inside of a large parent organization,” says Gary Bernardez, CEO of the construction-site services provider that New York-based One Equity Partners purchased from Fluor for $73 million in May 2021.
Except for the six years he worked at other companies after 2014, Bernardez had run AMECO for half of the nearly 30 years he spent at Fluor.
“But my passion was what the AMECO organization was capable of doing on its own,” says Bernardez, who credits Fluor with helping him, as a non-engineer, develop as a business leader.
Likewise, he appreciates the opportunities from AMECO/Fluor’s “tremendous history of doing some pretty amazing things in tough places.” He recalls, for instance, mobilizing with the U.S. military in 1991’s Operation Desert Storm as among many “crazy things” AMECO did.
“We had some incredible stories: calls from generals and bombs going off inside the compound,” he says. “And every day, you woke up working hard and trying to make sure that people stayed safe.”
While he once managed some 5,000 employees around Fluor’s world, he now oversees about a tenth of that number, many of whom moved into AMECO’s second life as a focused, independent company.
“The culture we created the first time,” he says. “The people fell in love with the organization and all we needed to do was give it a purpose and a reason for people to stay engaged, and I’m very proud of those that have stayed here.”
Still, the company carries some of Fluor’s DNA, he says. “They’re a part of who we are and who we’re going to be going forward, but we’re also able to leave behind the things that don’t make sense for us.”
For one thing, according to Bernardez.
For another, AMECO can absorb other companies now too. On May 5, nearly a year to the day after the OEP acquisition, AMECO merged with F&M MAFCO; the international supplier of tools and equipment rentals, along with sales and service programs, operates seven U.S. branches and three in Canada.
“We have a very similar legacy,” says Tim Fries, president and chief growth officer of the Cincinnati-based company that just marked its 77th year. (Bernardez happens to be an Ohio native.)
“You walk into their building and you walk into our building and there’s no difference. The culture’s very, very similar,” Fries says. “I’ve been through a couple of acquisitions and it’s creepy how smoothly this has gone.”
Moving forward, AMECO is poised to take all that accumulated synergy to a “whole ’nother level,” as Fries puts it.
And of AMECO’s renewed energy, Bernardez says, “You’re not starting over — you’re simply re-engaging with a different purpose, re-engaging with a different level of enthusiasm and level of understanding of where the business can go.”
Timeline
1947: Daniel Equipment Division was founded in Greenville as the equipment and tool division of Daniel Construction Co. in a garage off of Main Street.
1971: American Equipment Co. is established to expand the business and support clients outside of Daniel Construction.
1977: Fluor Corp. acquires the company as a part of the Daniel Construction acquisition.
1987: American Equipment Co. expands to Puerto Rico, the first move outside of the continental United States.
1995: Expands into global operations, including Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and the Philippines.
1999: Rebrands as AMECO, conducting business under a new name and logo.
2013: Breaks ground on a new, state-of-the-art headquarters on the same property that has served as AMECO’s home since 1969.
2021: One Equity Partners purchases U.S. and Canada operations, establishing AMECO as an independent company. Gary Bernardez returns as chief executive officer, and AMECO renews its mission as a site-services company.
2022: AMECO merges F&M MAFCO, an Ohio-based company that has just marked 77 years in business, while AMECO celebrates 75 years in Greenville.
Source: AMECO
