Company History
To understand Brenner-Fiedler's beginnings, we should take you back to the early 1940s where a couple of college friends, Milton Brenner and Walt Fiedler, both graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Electrical Engineering. After college, Walt Fiedler served in the military for 2 years. While Walt was serving, Milton Brenner bought and ran A.J. Barbera Company, an electrical representative business started in 1923. Walt Fiedler returned from the service and joined Milton Brenner as a partner in A.J. Barbera. The company name was later changed to Brenner-Fiedler.
After Milton Brenner passed away in the early 1960s, Walt Fiedler brought in Lew Meier as a minority partner from Esterline Angus in Indianapolis, Indiana. Throughout the 1960s, Brenner-Fiedler evolved into pneumatic distribution, beginning with GAST Manufacturing, and steadily growing its offerings to over 35 manufacturers presently.
In 1970, Jim Kloman joined Brenner-Fiedler as the fourth employed salesman. When Lew Meier retired in 1973 at age 65, Jim Kloman purchased his stock and became Walt’s minority partner. For the next 9 years, Jim and Walt grew the company and developed even more business alliances. When Walt Fiedler retired in 1982, Jim sought a new partner. The following year, Jim welcomed Bob Schnieders as the new co-owner of Brenner-Fiedler. Jim and Bob relocated the company from Paramount, California to Cerritos.
Upon graduating from California State University, Fullerton in 1989, Jim's son, Ken Kloman, joined Brenner-Fiedler as a Customer Service Representative before transitioning to outside sales. Business continued to grow and Brenner-Fiedler established a second location in Tempe, Arizona in 1992. By 1999, Bob Schnieders was ready to retire. He negotiated to be bought out by Jim Kloman and by the early 2000s, Jim became the sole proprietor and operator.
With 20 years of experience in Business Development and Strategic Planning, Jim's daughter, Deborah Kloman-Lichter, brought her talents to Brenner-Fiedler in 2001. Two years later, Ken Kloman took on factory relations and sales management while Deborah Kloman-Lichter took over day-to-day operations. Ken and Deborah joined Jim as co-owners of Brenner-Fiedler in 2005. The family business continued to expand and continued to increase its offerings in response to customer needs.
By 2007, Brenner-Fiedler had grown to 30 employees and began working towards ISO 9001:2008 Certification, which was achieved in 2009. Brenner-Fiedler expanded their product line offerings to include Automation Control Products in 2008.
By 2010, Brenner-Fiedler had grown to over 35 active employees! The following year, the company acquired ACCI (Automation Controls & Components).
Brenner-Fiedler continues to grow to help meet customer's needs. With a passion for customer care, intensive employee training and extensive research in all areas of pneumatic and automation technology, Brenner-Fiedler is one of the top companies in the field and will only continue to grow and strive for new milestones.