Computrols, a leading US manufacturer of Building Automation Systems and DDC controllers is excited to announce our latest Authorized Distribution Partner – Tri-Star Companies Inc.

Tri-Star Companies Inc. was originally founded by Mr. Gene Welch back in 1974 in Southaven, MS. By 1978, the company had to relocate to its current Batesville headquarters to accommodate its growth. Although semi-retired, Mr. Welch still looks in on the business every week, but the reins have been handed over to long-time Vice President, Wade Scott. Today Tri-Star Mechanical has over 80 employees servicing customers in Northern Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

Primarily focusing on construction and pipe-work for most of its existence, it wasn’t until 2005 when Kevin Powers joined the company that Tri-Star opened up full service and maintenance divisions for HVAC. Kevin’s background in automation drove the company’s desire to expand within this market as they added Honeywell, JCI, and later, Reliable controls to their line. Each line came with its own flaw and they couldn’t get away from product churning and obsolescence.

Then one day, following a specific customer enquiry, Kevin got in touch with Computrols Manager of Strategic Partnerships, Mike Clayton, and after receiving a demonstration of the system, he was impressed. “The integration capabilities with third-party systems were remarkable and struck a real chord with me. This is what we had been missing with our other controller lines. Coupled with the lifetime warranty, the software and the overall ease of use meant that I had finally found what I was looking for.”

Soon after, Kevin and Chad Blair, who heads up the automation and controls side of their HVAC service division, visited Computrols corporate headquarters in Gretna, LA. They met with Mike Clayton and the CEO of Computrols, Drew Mire, and following that meeting, there was only one more group of people Tri-Star needed to buy into this partnership, its customers.

Powers explained, “We value our clients and their feedback, so Chad and I began calling some of our long-standing customers and said ‘Hey, we’re thinking about taking on this new controls line and these are some of the capabilities and how it can integrate with your systems – would you be interested?’ The response was overwhelmingly positive, so proceeding with becoming an authorized distributor with Computrols was an easy step from there.”

Many of Tri-Star Companies Inc., customers have Siemens or Trane systems that are difficult to service and/or need to be “upgraded” to continue support. Following Kevin and Chad’s customer survey, they already have several customers keen on getting a Computrols Building Automation System to put an end to these recurring problems.

For the future, Kevin sees the automation side of their business growing, along with service, maintenance, replacement, and integration markets. Tri-Star already has a few customers interested in Computrols Access Control System as well. Powers admits that this is a new area for them, however, they like the possibility of creating an additional revenue stream.

Comment from Computrols

Mike Clayton from Computrols added, “We are really excited to be working with Kevin and Chad at Tri-Star Mechanical. The response they’ve had from their proactive approach with their customers about bringing Computrols onboard is very encouraging, and we are looking forward to helping them integrate with as many of their customers’ systems as possible.”