Family Matters – Take Five With Rob Exline

Family ties are said to run deep. In the case of Exline Inc., those ties can be traced back to 1872 when its founder, Robert Warren Exline, specialized as a blacksmith and wagonmaker. Those skill sets allowed him to adapt to the technological and industry changes at the turn of the 20th century. He soon became an expert with the steam, gas and diesel engines serving the road, farms, oil fields, factories and municipalities across the Midwest.

When the Depression hit, he found himself repairing oil field equipment, drilling rigs and early-type engines. From there, he branched into municipal power plants, and later into servicing reciprocating engine and compressors as natural gas pipeline systems were installed across the United States.

His journey helped set the precedent for Exline, which provides a broad array of products and services that support the gas compression, power generation, industrial manufacturing and plastics compounding industries, with specialized manufacturing, equipment repair, extensive OEM and aftermarket parts inventory, portable field machining and experienced equipment field technicians.

COMPRESSORTECH² spoke with Exline’s President and CEO Rob Exline about running a family business with a deep history and how to ride the highs and lows of a cyclical industry.

Exline specializes in repairs and services for several industries. How is business in the gas compression sector?

The gas compression sector has historically performed at or above Exline’s overall company performance average for all sectors.

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This story first appeared in the January/February 2020 issue of COMPRESSORTECH². We only publish a fraction of our magazine content online, so for more great content, get every issue in your inbox/mailbox and access to our digital archives with a free subscription. Click here for a new subscription or here to renew your current subscription.