From left, Jerry Dyer, welder and artist Jeramy Anderson and Trillium’s Bryan Voytilla pose with a new statue built by Anderson to commemorate Floway’s 90th anniversary. The statue will be displayed in the company’s lobby. Photos by Gabriel Dillard

There aren’t many businesses in Fresno that can lay claim to being 90 years old, founded the same year Bonnie and Clyde were killed by police and Babe Ruth hit his 700^th home run and left the Yankees.

The Floway brand of vertical turbine pumps has been part of Fresno’s farm irrigation landscape since 1934 — a milestone marked this week by parent company Trillium Flow Technologies with ceremony and even sculpture.

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and Blake Konczal, executive director of the Fresno Regional Workforce Development Board, were among the guests at a ceremony Tuesday at Floway’s south Fresno facility. Also present were Bryan Voytilla, managing director for Trillium’s American pumps division and Stephen Avila, plant manager.

 

Since 2019, when Houston-based Trillium acquired Weir Flow Control, the manufacturing operation has nearly doubled in size to 231 people with a recently expanded facility featuring an additional 13,000 square feet of space.

That growth — and the impact of jobs one can raise a family on — was not lost on Dyer, who commended the enterprise for its longevity. With production stopped for the ceremony, Dyer addressed the hard work of the Floway team.

“A company cannot achieve this level of success without dedicated employees,” Dyer said.

Floway has also evolved in its time, transitioning to make armaments for the allies in World War II. It has also expanded into the municipal, mining and military fueling sectors.

Dyer thanked the Floway team for its commitment to Fresno.

“Too many companies today are pulling up roots and moving to greener pastures,” Dyer said. “I like to think the greenest pasture is here in Fresno.”

 

With global headquarters in Glasgow, Scotland, Trillium celebrated the 90^th anniversary with a tradition that actually started in their plant in Italy — commissioning sculptures made from pump parts by local artists.

Jeramy Anderson, a local welder, artist and instructor, was commissioned to make a sculpture to celebrate Floway’s anniversary. His 7-foot piece is meant to evoke water traveling vertically in a helix, pushed up a column by an actual Trillium impeller.

Konczal, whose job is helping to train workers for jobs the region’s employers need to fill, said companies like Trillium help make sure roads are maintained and public safety services are available in Fresno.

“Companies like Trillium are the types of companies that provide the tax base to have a nice city,” Konczal said.