IN THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI
Title
A RESOLUTION recognizing the fiftieth-year celebration of the Fike Corporation, an international corporation, headquartered in Blue Springs, MO.
Intro
RESOLUTION #10938, August 28, 1995
INTRODUCED BY Dixie M. Flynn, County Legislator
Body
WHEREAS, in 1945, Lester L. Fike, Sr., a skilled machinist and longtime resident of Jackson County, realized the dream of owning his own business by purchasing the Carpenter Machine Shop on South Grand Street in Independence; and,
WHEREAS, the new firm, named L. L. Fike Metal Products Company, began in a small wooden building with three full time employees - including Lester, Sr. and his wife, Rose; and,
WHEREAS, the company first did metal fabrication and tool and die work; however, Mr. Fike, Sr. had been shop foreman for a Kansas City manufacturer of rupture discs for the petroleum industry and his former customers sought out Lester, and encouraged him to enter the disc industry; and,
WHEREAS, in 1955 the company was incorporated as Fike Metal Products Corporation and, in 1958, moved to Blue Springs, where its current facilities include approximately 200,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing and office space; and,
WHEREAS, in 1985, the corporate name was changed to Fike Corporation to more fully encompass the broad range of products being manufactured by the corporation, the worldwide operations of which currently employ more than 400 people; and,
WHEREAS, the rupture disc is still the core of Fike's business, generating 30 percent of the company's revenues - more than any other Fike product - from such customers as Dow Chemical, Union Carbide, Monsanto, and Schlumberger; Fike Corporation has been credited with helping expand applications for the disc, which now is used in space exploration - in rockets, space shuttles, and astronaut's packs - as well as in chemical and oil operations; and,
WHEREAS, the company also manufactures...
Click here for full text