About Us
Milton S. Frank Co. is a privately held, Woman Owned Business, dedicated to providing high quality, personalized and customized engineering solutions to all process industry customers throughout Northern California and Western Nevada. Our application and sales team members are degreed engineers. They understand the complexities of each unique application and the best product to meet those requirements so that it performs as required – the first time. Everything we do is based on the single goal of helping customers succeed by maximizing efficiencies, uptime and productivity.
Below is a brief history of how we got started, what we have done and what we will do.
In 1949, Milt started his company in San Francisco, California so that he could be close to the engineering community – especially Bechtel. He worked with them daily to provide personalized service on water/waste water treatment and mining/metals projects. The first product line Milt represented was Ecodyne, who at the time, offered turnkey waste water treatment plants. During the 1960’s, Milt expanded into new markets by adding Sundyne pumps (refining industry) and Lightnin mixers (municipal and general industry).
Milt met Dave Mechler, Director of Sales for Lightnin Mixers, and they became very good friends and business associates. Dave was promoted to Vice President of Lightnin’s Avon Portable Mixer Division and traveled extensively. As much as he enjoyed his job, Dave had a long-time desire to run his own company.
In 1993, Dave purchased Milton S. Frank Co. and moved from New York to California with his wife and two children. Settling in the East Bay, he moved the company to Concord, California. To support customers’ growing needs, Dave added top tier manufacturers in the following product groups: Bran+Luebbe metering pumps, Flowserve mechanical seals, Flowserve pumps, Quadro emulsifiers and high sheer mixers, Tranter heat exchangers, Vanton engineered thermoplastic pumps and Westfall static mixers.
Dave’s operating philosophy was to hire the best people and structure job responsibilities around their strengths. One specific standout was Hope Lovill, who was hired in 1999. Hope became the company’s top sales engineer due in part to her personalized approach to people and her Flowserve experience at local refineries and chemical plants. Hope’s attention to detail and commitment to customer service helped her excel in biotech applications as well.
In 2011, Hope was promoted to Vice President of Engineered Solutions where she managed day-to-day activities until January 1, 2015 when she purchased the company.
Hope has energized Milton S. Frank Co.’s corporate culture by emphasizing synergistic team work and has strengthened relationships with high level managers of the manufacturers we represent. She is committed to the company’s proud legacy of long-term product representation, e.g. continuously representing Lightnin mixers and Sundyne pumps for over 50 years, and to selectively offering products that meet new and exciting process applications.
Milton S. Frank Co.’s guiding principal remains unchanged. Helping Others Succeed. We will continue achieving this goal by: 1) offering the highest quality products and helping customers match those products to their applications for the best possible fit; 2) being a resource that customers can rely on for accurate and timely product information; 3) remaining a trustworthy partner that always has our customers’ best interests at the core of everything we do; and 4) having a “Yes We Will” spirit of customer care so that every customer receives what they need, when they need, it in a friendly, collaborative and professional manner..
