Electric Motor Service was started in Lee Killeen's garage in 1984 in Fremont, California. Although employed as a power transmission salesman by Republic Supply, Lee saw a need for a West Coast warranty repair center for the ever growing market for Bodine Electric gearmotors in the Silicon Valley. In 1986, Bodine Electric recognized Electric Motor Service as a full line stocking distributor. This allowed Lee to leave his employment and go full time as an entrepreneur. He also brought on his son, Greg, as a full time machinist.

The business grew quite quickly based on its location, but more importantly, it's additional in-house machining and assembly capabilities. After 3 physical moves, Electric Motor Service now resides in a 6,000 sf building, still in Fremont California, which houses 2 Bridgeport milling machines, 2 lathes, test benches, winding equipment (N-Frame gearmotors), a balancing machine, a paint booth and plenty of inventory.

The acquisition of Bratu Electric in 1999, and it's relocation from Chicago, added to EMS's unique Bodine Electric capabilities. EMS Plus.

Over the time the business was transitioned to his son Greg, who successfully ran it until 2008, when he chose to sell.

That's where I came in. Although living on the East Coast, and owning & operating my own distribution company, the opportunity to aquire EMS was presented to me by Chris Miller. He is the Bodine Electric's West Coast manufacturer's representative. He and I go back to the late 1970s, where we were both employed by Dana Corporation's Industrial Power Transmission Division as sale engineers. Because I spent my first 10 years with Dana in the Bay Area, Chris reached out on a bit of a whim to see if I was interested. Electric Motor Service was similar to my Connecticut Company, Clutch Engineering. They were both very technically capable distributors which provided value added solutions to its customers. The Northern California location and potential growth opportunity was enough motivation to buy the company.

Greg Killeen remains on staff as a technical adviser. His 34 years of Bodine Electric hands on and archival knowledge makes him a valuable asset to you, the customer.

A little bit about myself. I graduated from Montana State University with a BS in mechanical engineering. From 1978 through 1988 I was a sales engineer in Northern California of the Dana Corporation. In 1988 to 1990 I took a overseas position as Engineering Manager of the Taiwan, Dana Industrials sales office, responsible for Southeast Asia. In 1990 I decided I was ready to go out on my own. I purchased Clutch Engineering which was the Northeastern distributor for Wichita and Airflex Clutches. They are both pneumatic clutch product lines for the heavy duty markets such as paper, steel, mining, marine, etc. All of this totals up to 40+ years of power transmission focused experience, at both the manufacturing & distribution levels.

We hope if you have gotten this far in reviewing our website, you will be convinced we are the right partner for your electric motor, gearing and controls. We look forward to the opportunity to serve you.