46 | The Fisher Story
1969 Monsanto
Company of St. Louis,
Missouri, and Fisher
Governor Company
merge. New name is Fisher Controls Company;
it operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Bill Fisher selects Tom Shive to serve
as president and chief operating
officer.
ac2 electronic instrument,
Whisper Trim ®, Cavitrol ® trim
and Type 380 differential
pressure element are
introduced.
2
ac coffee coaster
The Monsanto Merger
Marshalltown management team, 1969
M
onsanto, founded in 1901,
pioneered new products
and processes not only for the
chemical and agricultural
industries but also for process
control.
Monsanto and Fisher merged
in 1969 and stockholders traded
Fisher shares for Monsanto
shares. Monsanto proved willing
to invest in new technology,
from advanced control systems
to electronic instrumentation.
Under Monsanto’s leadership
the name was changed from the
Fisher Governor Company to
Fisher Controls Company.
Monsanto invested $100
million in new products: ac2
(1969) and dc2 (1971) electronic
analog instrumentation and the
PROVOX ® distributed control
system (1980).
Monsanto established:
• Valve-repair facilities in the
U.S. and the United Kingdom.
•Electronic instrument
manufacturing operations in
Iowa and England.
•PROVOX instrumentation
staging facilities in Texas
and Canada.
• A new manufacturing plant in
Japan operated by joint venture
Nippon Fisher Co. Ltd.
• An expansion of the R.A. Engel
Technical Center in
Marshalltown.