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JB HistoryJB Industries celebrates 40 years of supplying the refrigeration and air conditioning industry. Founded in 1967 by Greg Brinda and investor Stan Jarrow, JB Industries was formed after Madden Brass was purchased by Robinair and Jarrow Brinda Industries thus became J/B Industries. JB Industries called 500 Rathbone Avenue in Aurora home. Initially supplying manifolds, hoses, and brass fittings, the company later added third party vacuum pumps. Later the company began manufacturing vacuum pumps and fittings and expanded both its product line and its in-house manufacturing capabilities. In 1973, Ron Hill Sr. partnered with Greg Brinda and Ron Hill bought out Jarrow. The Brinda-Hill partnership added Lee Larsen to the team in 1976.
The creation of the Montreal Protocol in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s was an international treaty designed to phase out all Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrocholorfluorocarbons (HCFC`s), believed to contribute significantly to the depletion of the ozone layer. This worldwide ban brought about the need for tools and instruments to analyze the influx of different refrigerants creating a new direction and demand for JB products. In 2005, the company reinvented itself when Ron Hill Jr., son of Ron Hill Sr. as well as a life long employee at JB, and Jeff Cherif, former vice president at Motorola, bought out the current partners to begin a new direction at JB. Both Ron and Jeff are longtime friends committed to bringing quality and innovation to the company. Lee Larsen remains active at the company providing valuable insight and consultation to the new direction. Upon change of ownership, Ron and Jeff launched a whole new look and feel to the company and the industry has taken notice. With the launch of JB is Just Better, the company has put the focus on American made products, quality, technology, and innovation. The reaction to the changes has been dramatic and overwhelming. Never ones to rest on success, both Ron and Jeff are committed to pushing new technologies into new applications to create truly unique and useful products to the marketplace. In July 2006, JB Industries won the prestigious Gold Medal in the ACHR News Dealer Design Awards for the tools category for their DM-2, Digital Manifold. They followed up that award with the Bronze Medal in 2007 for the ATLAS, refrigerant charging scale.
JB Industries is proud of our history and we look forward to embarking on the next 40 years. American made for 40 years, JB is Just Better. |
After years of success and expanding factory production, the company began to move to a new larger facility, and current home, at 601 North Farnsworth Avenue in Aurora in 1982. The buildings themselves date back to 1893 when it was Western Wheeled Scraper Company. Later the building housed a crane manufacturer and produced materials for World War II. In 1981, JB Industries purchased these buildings and began a nearly two year total renovation. Moving into the new facility was nearly complete when, on Christmas Eve, the old factory burned to the ground. Most of the factory had already made the transition to the new location, but a few items were lost in the fire.
In 2007, JB Industries announced an exclusive partnership with premier tool manufacturer ROTHENBERGER to become the exclusive distributor of these high quality tools for the HVACR industry. ROTHENBERGER combines German engineering and quality standards with European craftsmanship to produce the best tools in the HVACR industry. This was a major coup for JB Industries as ROTHENBERGER wanted to select a partner who placed an equal emphasis on product quality and customer service and it signaled to the industry that JB Industries was aggressively differentiating themselves from the competetion.