Thornel started in September 1955, founded by Carl Thorkelson and Garth Owen. They wanted a material handling equipment sales agency representing a variety of manufacturers but specializing in industrial material handling containers. The first salesman they hired had been selling pallets and had both sources and customers, so they decided to finance his pallet sales and they could work on the development of the rack and shelving sales. After several years passed, Thornel grew to four salesmen selling containers and four salesmen selling racks and pallets.
In 1983 Garth became the sole owner of Thornel, which he sold to Thomas Wichhart
and Thomas Church in 1987. Tom and Tom continued to grow Thornel into the
"State of the Art" company it is today. They added product lines such
as: Conveyor, Palletizers, Lifts, etc. Tom Wichhart became the sole owner
at the retirement of Tom Church in 1998. Tony Wichhart assumed the role as
president in 2003.
