In 1981, lifelong friends Jim Richardson, Randy Neverka, and their softball teammate, Pat Thomas were doing what any young 20-somethings would do after a long week at the office: hanging out and knocking back a few cold ones. A few beers in, Randy, a chemical engineer by trade who was working for a company that built power transformers, revealed that the company had been purchased by a larger conglomerate. The new owners intended to use the shop for a different purpose, thus discontinuing transformer production and letting the current customers go. Pat, being the enterprising one he was (and still is) saw this as an opportunity and pushed the other two to start their own business.
The three all quit their jobs and pooled together $1300 each (a portion borrowed from their parents) and rented a 2000 square foot shop. Pacific Transformer was born. On the first day of business, they showed up to the reality they had nothing to do. The first days became filled with endless phone calls to the recently dropped customers from Randy’s former employer seeking an opportunity. To get a foothold, they looked for something nobody else offered, and since they had nothing but time on their hands, they offered to make parts in as little as three days. Other companies had set lead times averaging six weeks. This tactic would become a staple over the years and would eventually land them their first customer. The only problem is that only Randy knew how to actually build the transformers. The first day of their already impossible production schedule was dedicated to Randy teaching Pat and Jim how to make the parts. Upon delivery, the customer was so impressed that they continued to provide the trio with a steady stream of orders. In fact, that first customer is still a customer to this day. Slowly but surely, the orders started to increase. All night winding sessions between endless pong tournaments, loud music, and beers became the norm through those first scrappy years.
As the orders grew, the team needed to grow their workforce (some of which still work at Pacific today). Jim would eventually handle administration, Randy took charge of engineering, and Pat led the sales and manufacturing teams. They all learned on the go.
Forty years later, Pacific Transformer grew to become the largest manufacturer of custom transformers on the west coast. Our transformers are roaming on Mars, floating on satellites in space, in nuclear submarines, medical devices, and battery chargers. But none of this could have been possible without our incredibly dedicated, hard-working staff and you, our loyal customers. Jim, Randy, and Pat instilled a culture of overachieving from that very first order, and it is our promise to you that we will keep that mission alive for the next 40 years and beyond.
