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Our HistoryOriginsPulmac was originally established in 1950 as a holding company to flow through royalty income for patents associated with equipment developed by family patriarch, Eli Cowan. Amongst this equipment included the venerable Cowan Screen. During the Second World War Eli Cowan was Chairman of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association Machine Shop Board. In this position he contributed to the war effort by coordinating pulp and paper mill machine shops across Canada in their contribution to the war effort. These shops machined parts for gun mounts assembled in Montreal and installed on Canadian warships. After the war Eli and his younger brother Ben, founded E&B Cowan Ltd. Hiring engineering talent from all over the world, this Montreal company designed and oversaw construction of 40 pulp and paper mills in locations as diverse as Canada, the United States, Germany, Romania, Finland, Brazil, Hungary and Australia. E&B Cowan organized installation of 32 paper machines, 40 steam plants, and oversaw the modernization of 29 pulp and paper mills. E&B Cowan Ltd. was later absorbed into the SNC-Lavalin group of companies. Pulmac Research Ltd In 1964, Eli Cowan's son, Wavell, established Pulmac Research Ltd., borrowing the name from the original holding company owned by his father. Wavell Cowan graduated with a PhD granted by the Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin, USA (now the Institute of Paper Science and Technology in Atlanta, Georgia). Upon completion of his doctoral studies, Wavell Cowan found employment as Technical Director of the Clyde Paper Mill of Glasgow, Scotland where he worked from 1960 to 1963. As a result of this formative experience, Dr. Cowan developed ideas about testing equipment that could provide him with the timely information he needed to troubleshoot process upsets and to tailor process variables to meet customer quality needs. Pulmac Instruments International In 1968, Dr. Cowan spun off Pulmac Instruments Ltd. from his consulting firm. He moved the company to the United States in 1978 where it was reorganized as a family owned business under the trade name of Pulmac Instruments International. Joff Cowan joined the company in 1983 to support greater communication efforts with Pulmac's customers in the pulp and paper, becoming president in 1993. Together they developed and marketed z-span systems to support mills in reducing costs through understanding their fiber properties and the MasterScreen for analyzing contaminant loadings in pulp and furnish. Cowan Technologies / Pulmac International In 2004, Cowan Technologies Inc and Pulmac International (a wholly owned subsidiary of Cowan Technologies Inc), were formed by Wavell Cowan's son Joffrey Cowan to continue the family involvement in pulp and paper manufacturing. The focus of Cowan Technologies is to provide testing solutions that enhance paper machine productivity without compromising end use quality. |