About Nicol Scales

History:

The company was founded in 1931 as the JP Bowlin Company, based in Fort Worth, Texas. The company worked exclusively in the Retail Grocery Market, providing food machines, scales, slicers, packaging machines and refrigeration equipment throughout the Southwest. The Bowlin family owned and operated one of the largest retail sales and service companies in the country, with over 100 employees in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. In 1948 Bill Nicol (a graduate Engineer from SMU) managed the JP Bowlin office in Dallas, Texas. He, along with his wife Noreen Nicol, founded the William F. Nicol Scale and Machinery Company. The company remained a distributor of JP Bowlin for several years concentrating on the Retail Grocery Market, until it was decided the company would move exclusively into the Industrial Scale Market. The company quickly grew in the emerging Industrial Market to become one of the premier Scale Distributors in Texas operating as Nicol Scales, Inc. The company offered products and services geared toward manufacturing and agricultural markets, later adding Force and Material Test products to further meet the needs of its customers.

Nicol Scales, Inc. owned and operated by the Nicol family until August of 1999, when the company was purchased by Ted Tobolka, a longtime employee. The company quickly began to expand its focus to increase its services, pursuing opportunities in the broader Measurement market. The Company capitalized on the strong relationships it had with customers by offering expanded calibration services and custom measurement solutions, while maintaining its position as one of the largest Industrial Scale Distributors in Texas and beyond.

Along with the expansion into the new markets, Nicol Scales initiated a plan to meet the Quality needs of our customers by successfully completing a “Total Quality Operating System” that allowed for application as an ISO accredited company. In December of 2000 Nicol Scales, LP received ISO 17025:2005 Accreditation from Perry Laboratories, Inc. as an accredited calibration lab.

As part of the aggressive plan to expand into existing markets and to grow into new ones, Mr. Tobolka purchased the JP Bowlin Company in 2004. In a strange twist of fate the company was one again, allowing the company to operate under two names with similar rich histories as well as expand into the larger Industrial market with a local presence. This allowed us to effectively compete in Houston and surrounding regions.

In July of 2010, the company expanded its ISO scope of accreditation to include Dimensional, Temperature, Pressure and Timers. The growth into this scope allowed us to offer our customers Instrument Calibrations Services out of our newly established Calibration Service Teams in Houston and in Dallas (2011). We are now offering “Single Source” calibration solutions to our customers.

In 2012, the Nicol Scales company name was officially changed to Nicol Scales and Measurement, LP. The change truly reflects the company as it operates today. The name maintains the strong heritage of the industrial scale market, balanced with our expanded presence in the markets we serve and the customers we support.

Leadership:

  • Ted Tobolka – President and CEO
  • Steve Ford – Vice President, Service
  • Jim Budke – Director of Sales and Marketing
  • Oliver Jackson – Director of Finance
  • Richard Lomonaco – Director of Technical Services and Quality

Services Offered:

Nicol Scales & Measurement is organized into 4 divisions -

Weighing Division

This division sells, services and calibrates weighing products that measure from a tenth of a microgram to over 500 tons. This includes preconfigured scales (such as balances, bench scales, floor scales and truck and rail road scales) as well as custom weighing and control systems utilizing load cells and/or programmable controllers and instrumentation. Nicol Scales & Measurement’s weighing division can assist you with any project that requires capturing a weight and/or interfacing with peripherals like printers, scanners and controls like valves and batching or filling systems. Nicol Scales & Measurement has created countless custom weighing systems controlling processes and capturing data. Our factory trained Technicians have a large inventory of parts on hand, proper testing equipment (including 3 heavy duty test trucks) and are licensed by the State of Texas. In fact, Nicol Scales was the first scale company in the State of Texas to qualify to operate as a Licensed Weight and Measurement Company. Do you have a standard or unique weighing or process control system that needs service or calibration? Nicol Scales & Measurement can help with that too.

Force Measurement & Material Testing Division

This division sells, services and calibrates devices that measure forces or test the strengths and characteristics of materials. Nicol Scales & Measurement is an authorized distributor for Chatillon, Lloyd Instruments, Shimadzu and Shimpo. However, our Force Measurement and Material Testing Division has access to and can service and calibrate equipment from most manufacturers. Our capabilities range from simple hand held force and torque gauges to complex universal testing machines with software, extensometers, temperature chambers and testing fixtures. We have solutions for projects ranging in capacities from less than 1 mN to over 4,000 kN. Nicol Scales has the in-house capabilities of the big, “most trusted” guys, with attention to detail and customer service that can’t be matched. We can help with any type of test (tension, compression, peel, bend, creep, etc) on any type of material (rubber, plastic, metal, composites, foam, etc).

Metrology Services Division

Nicol Scales & Measurement’s newest division is the Metrology Services division. With a newly expanded ISO 17025 scope, Nicol can now calibrate not only weighing and force testing equipment, but also dimensional, electronic, temperature, mechanical and time and frequency devices. Since we are continuously adding to our calibration standards and our ISO accreditation scope, we can perform non-ISO 17025 calibrations on many other types of metrology equipment as we add objective evidence to our calibration program. Tired of working with a calibration house that can’t repair your broken equipment or supply you with new equipment? Give Nicol Scales & Measurement’s metrology division a try.

Rental Division

The rental division has one of the largest varieties of rental scales in stock in the United States available for your inventory, counting or short term weighing needs. Nicol Scales & Measurement even has truck and vehicle weighing scales available for rent. On-site calibration of our rental scales can be arranged if your quality system requires on-site calibration. From balances to counting scales and truck scales, Nicol Scales & Measurement’s rental division can help. Our equipment can be delivered or shipped anywhere in the continental United States. With a three day minimum and no maximum, our flexibility can’t be beat. The rental division can even accommodate unique rental applications or applications that require peripherals like printers.

Nicol Scales & Measurement has provided thousands of customers with “solutions to measure by” since 1931.

 

About Nicol Scales