September 30, 2025 Handling Business

Family-owned and diversified Brownlee-Morrow Enterprises provides air handling, liquid handling. process and motor control equipment and ser

By David Soyka, Senior Editor, Industry Today

When company owners set a goal to grow the business by $50 million over the next ten years, Brownlee-Morrow Enterprises President Mike Iles is confident they can do it in five.

That confidence rests in Brownlee-Morrow’s unique situation as a family-owned and operated company with a diversified array of companies that manufacture, distribute, repair and service a range of related products. These encompass air and liquid handling products, process and motor control equipment, water well drills, industrial waste water gear and solutions, and custom engineered components for municipal and industrial markets, including power generation, mining, chemical, marine, oil and gas, pulp and paper, and beverage.

Brownlee-Morrow ranks among the leaders in the air and fluid equipment industry as a full-service sales and engineering firm specializing in unique customer needs. “We’ve evolved to become a cradle-to-grave provider in five different businesses,” Iles says. “Our ability to share manufacturing processes and the synergies among the related businesses is an important differentiator. We’re the only company that offers the total package, from in-house design to custom fabrication to installation, service, and repair.”

The company was founded in 1952 by Lawrence Brownlee and Gordon Morrow originally to provide engineered ventilation solutions for large industrial fans used in foundries and industrial markets. In the late 1980s it expanded to offer industrial repairs of air, fluid, and process handling equipment. In 1993, Brownlee-Morrow became the Alabama distributor for Goulds Pumps, one of most widely recognized manufacturer of mechanical pumps and related technologies.

In 2006, it acquired a company that became Morrow Water Technologies that provides various water pumping and process equipment, controls, and other parts and accessories; it also runs contract operations at the Talladega/ Shelby County Water Treatment Plant near Childersburg, Ala. The company also has well drilling capabilities; it operated the only dual rotary drill rig in the Alabama, operating four rigs in a continuous contract with Walter Energy. A subsidiary operation, Clay-Greene Package Pump Stations, manufactures a complete line of packaged pumping stations, with over 1200 installations in Alabama and startups nationwide.

Morrow Repair Services was founded as an independent woman-owned company to support all makes and models of service pumps, rotation equipment, gear boxes, fans, blowers, and vacuums; it is also an authorized Gould Pumps repair center. It maintains a fleet of 32 trucks and 11 dedicated technicians to offer 24/7 field service.

Vulcan Pumps was founded in 2012 to manufacture high-quality slurry pumps and act as a national authorized distributor for SPX Flow high temp/hot oil pumps. These pumps are used in in steel, mining, and power generation applications where there are abrasive or corrosive challenges. The company also designs and builds custom barges, floating platforms, and pontoons used with most pump designs. The Vulcan brand reflecting the mythical god of metalworking. Fun fact: Birmingham’s statue of Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world and second only in size to the Statue of Liberty.

“Some of our services are geographic, covering Alabama, the Florida panhandle and Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Iles notes, “although we are looking to expand into neighboring states. Our own products and those we rep are sold through national distribution.”

Third-Generation Family Ownership

Now under third generation ownership, Iles points to another strength of a family operated business. “The sons that took over learned the business from the bottom-up. Literally. They worked on the shop floor, drove the trucks, did everything any of our employees do. They know what our employees do day-in and day-out and can make better decisions based in part on their own experiences in the trenches.”

Brownlee-Morrow employs about 140 across the five companies based in Alabama, with corporate and manufacturing locations in Birmingham, additional office, repair shop, and warehouse facilities in Mobile, and a satellite-sales office in Decatur. Iles emphasizes that the “family feel” extends from the corporate offices to the shop floor. “We have very little attrition,” he points out. “That said, I am looking to recruit the next generation of workers. That’s a little bit challenging in today’s labor market, but, I think working for a family run company offering a sense of belonging beyond the salary and benefits everyone wants and expects is a definite plus for us.”

As yet another example of Brownlee-Morrow’s sense of family is its commitment to the safety and health of its employees as a core value. The company had zero injuries in 2022, with a 2023 EMR rating of 0.78.

Iles notes that product manufacturing is very much a hands-on, highly skilled operation. “Over the last three years we invested heavily to modernize the way we operate and analyze the business to use technology to improve our processes. We’re now utilizing Epicor, Monday. com, and Rubbertree Systems that manage our internal operations and customer relationships,” he says. “But as far as manufacturing goes, once we develop an approved 3D model design on SolidWorks CAD, the blueprint gets downloaded and assembled in our 10,000 square foot in-house fabrication facility. Our certified welders and skilled technicians perform custom builds from simple to highly complex, to exact tolerances of 1/8” or less.”

The company maintains an extensive inventory of over $3 million of complete pumps. mechanical seals, replacement parts and repair kits for a wide variety of pumps. Same day shipping is available for most items.

Challenges and Opportunities

Brownlee-Morrow Enterprises shares with most manufacturers the challenges and frustrations created by COVID. “We have 10 outside salespeople who are used to working face-to-face with customers. Along comes the pandemic and we can’t do that anymore,” Iles notes. “So, we had to adapt. Even today, people are working remotely, and we had to work out new ways to stay in front of our customers. These include ramping up both traditional marketing as well as boosting our presence on social media.

Supply chain is of course an additional issue. “Cash flow was stretched as we had to book for later shipments to ensure supply,” Iles says. “Our raw material costs went up 20 percent or more, so gross margins got stressed. The one saving grace was that our competitors were all facing the same situation.”

He adds that, “As a diversified company, we can ride out the downs in one market against the ups in another. We also have the infrastructure that can easily adapt production to current market demands. Pooling our resources helps the company stay steady even under volatile conditions.”

As Brownlee-Morrow has grown for nearly 75 years, it remains totally “pumped” to meet the unique and growing needs of its municipal and industrial customers and looks forward to further expanding its product range and services.

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