A plastic pump,and a town that kept building it
Pacer Pumps has been based in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for over fifty years. From a small garage to a modern manufacturing facility — the same product, the same standards, the same phone number.
How it started
Al Marlow knew pumps. His father ran Marlow Pumps and Al ran Midland Pumps, both
known for metal self-priming centrifugal pumps in construction. Al did most of the
design work for both. He had already retired in the early 1970s when he had the idea
to build a lightweight self-priming centrifugal pump out of plastic.
It was a tough sell. Plenty of people said it would never work.
Al Marlow never gave up, and founded Orly Manufacturing in 1974 to prove it.
Plastic pumps suit relatively clean liquids rather than the sand and rock slurries
contractors usually move, so early progress was slow. Then a few pumps went to
farmers, and everything changed. Lightweight, corrosion resistant, easy to maintain
and affordable turned out to be exactly what agriculture wanted. The brand gained
worldwide acceptance, and the copycats started arriving.
Why we mould our own parts
As the line extended into end-suction centrifugals, hand pumps and couplings —
with gasoline, diesel, electric, hydraulic and pneumatic drive options —
injection moulding became the weak link. Components made at various custom moulders
varied too much. The answer was vertical integration: Polymar was formed to bring
moulding in-house.
Polymar still moulds every plastic Pacer part today, five miles from the assembly
floor, to ISO 9001. That is why a Pacer housing from this year matches one from a
decade ago.
Who you actually talk to
Most pump manufacturers moved production overseas. Pacer did not. Our top four
office members bring 105 combined years of experience with this product. When you
call with a chemical compatibility question or a priming problem, one of them
answers — not a queue.
Ownership history
Al Marlow incorporates Orly Manufacturing as a 50/50 joint venture with IIDC, and the Pacer Pumps brand is established. The first self-priming plastic centrifugal pump goes to market.
Pompes Guinard, a French pump company, buys all of IIDC's stock and part of Al Marlow's holding.
Orly Manufacturing is renamed ASM Industries, Inc. after Alfred S. Marlow. Polymar is formed the same year to bring injection moulding in-house.
Pompes Guinard acquires the remaining shares, then Service Filtration Corporation of Northbrook, Illinois acquires ASM Industries.
Mantec and the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal recognise Pacer for growth and innovation.
Pacer operates from a 60,000 sq ft facility in Lancaster County, shipping to agriculture, marine, aquaculture, industrial and disaster relief operations worldwide.
Talk to someone who has built these for decades
Chemical compatibility, priming, drive selection or a repair kit — one call usually settles it.
