Fowler Associates Labs

Fowler Associates, Inc.
Company Profile

Located in the northern part of South Carolina, Fowler Associates, Inc. is near the towns of Greenville and Spartanburg. It is 4 miles off I-85, the main interstate highway between Charlotte and Atlanta.

Fowler Associates provides technical guidance through consulting, marketing, expert witnesses, auditing, training and laboratory services primarily to the Packaging, Textile,Electronics, Electrostatics (ESD) and Industrial Radiation Processing industries.

Nearby is the revolutionary war battlefield called "Cowpens." This was the first battle (January 17, 1781) in which the American Forces defeated the regular British army in a face to face battle. It was the main turning point of the war.

South Carolina's upcountry is located in the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ride Mountains. Here you will find dazzling waterfalls, sparkling lakes and rivers, lush forests and scenic highways. It's so easy to slow down and enjoy life!

The upper South Carolina area is known for its peaches and textiles. Well, it used to be known for those.Now the area is the headquarters for Michelin North America and the main North American BMW facility.

The facilities of Fowler Associates progressed from a garage operation in the home of Steve and Jan Fowler in 1993 to taking over the entirely renovated building plus three outside buildings for environmental and oven labs by the year 2000. The facilities include an electrical lab, training rooms, administrative offices and three separate buildings for oven and other tests that require isolation from the main labs and offices.

Founder's Profile:

One might say that Electrostatics is in the blood of Steve Fowler. Some of his ancestors were killed by a lightning strike in August 1895 in a mill village called Fairmont. The two killed were Steve's Great Uncle and Aunt. This village, minus the old textile mill, oddly enough is less than 3 miles from the Fowler Associates offices.

Steve Fowler, President of Fowler Associates, Inc, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1966-1970. He was lucky enough to serve during the tumultuous Vietnam War era. Steve spent 14 months on islands in the South China Sea on radar installations and spent the rest of his service at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi and Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina. After the Air Force, Steve completed his Electrical Engineering Degree at the University of South Carolina.

In 1974 he joined the Cryovac Division of W.R. Grace & Company. His job was to help found a new engineering department for electron beam irradiation of polymers. From 1974 until he left Cryovac in 1991, Steve progressed through leadership roles in radiation engineering and radiation safety. In 1986 Steve was asked to help develop Cryovac's new electronics plastics (ESD Products). From 1988 until 1991, Steve was the technical and market manager for the EP Films Product line at Cryovac. Steve left Cryovac in 1991 to take the Vice President of Sales job at United Technical Products in Canton, Mass. Steve left UTP in 1992 to take a VP role in a new company for a patented product that he helped invent. This company was called Rapid-Fill USA. It manufactured an inflatable dunnage package. This company was eventually sold to Sealed Air Corporation. In 1993, Steve helped found both ESD Flooring Systems, Inc. and Fowler Associates, Inc.

ESD Flooring Systems manufactured and distributed conductive carpeting for ESD safe areas. This company was sold to Vinyl Plastics, Inc. (VPI) in 1996.

Fowler Associates was formed to perform the electrical testing for ESD Flooring Systems and outside clients. One of those clients was Cryovac who by this time had shut down the EP Films project headed by Steve during his last years there. Luckily, the massive ESD & electrical testing facilities at the Research facilities in Duncan, South Carolina and in Columbia, Maryland were being "mothballed".

Fowler Associates acquired the entire inventory of electrical laboratory equipment from both locations. This made the capabilities of Fowler Associates second to none in electrical and ESD testing. This equipment also allowed Fowler associates to begin again the business of radiation testing and consulting. After the sale of ESD Flooring Systems, Steve’s previous employers became Fowler Associates first and remain their most consistent clients for the present business of Fowler Associates:

Testing
Electrical rf Emi Environmental Physical ESD/Electrostatics Physical Radiation Radiation Safety

Consulting/ Auditing
Electrical ESD/Electrostatics Radiation Radiation Safety

Expert Witness
Electrical ESD/Electrostatics Radiation Radiation Safety

Training
Electrical ESD/Electrostatics Radiation Radiation Safety Crisis Management
Electrical Safety

On-Line Publishing
Publisher of the following on-line trade magazines:

ESD Journal (http://www.esdjournal.com)

RAD Journal (http://www.radjournal.com)

Steve Fowler's other life from 1984 - 1994: While employed at Cryovac, in 1984 Steve Fowler started a company called Palmetto Technologies, Inc. It manufactured a patented invention of Steve's called the ECHO 2000. This device was the size of a calculator and allowed any deaf person to communicate over the phone with anyone who was using a touch tone telephone. The deaf person talked into the phone and read the response on the display of the ECHO 200 which was being typed out by the hearing person on the other end of the phone line. This device was featured in USA Today, New York Times, many trade magazines as well as television shows such as "The Merv Griffin Show." It was a marketing disaster but brought help to many hundreds of hearing impaired people. Some are still using the device today after 17 years. Steve invented the device to be able to talk to his mother on the phone after Steve's father died in 1976. The ECHO 2000 used a trademarked code, which utilized the 12 keys on the telephone in a very efficient way. Some people could type 30 words per minute using the touch tone pad. This code was called the "Echode" and has been copied by Dow-Jones and other services, which allow information to be entered by telephone.