A & W Compressor and Mechanical Services, Inc., celebrated it’s 40th business anniversary the weekend of June 25th at Big Ridge State Park. Everyone at A&W Compressor and their families gathered under the big oak trees for a fish fry to celebrate the 40-year business milestone. Fishing and the occasional fish fry have been a long time family tradition of the company founder Archie Wilson Sr. and his lamented wife Shirley Wilson. A tradition his son Archie Wilson Jr., his wife and family share. Archie Jr. is an excellent fish fryer and uses both his late mother’s cornmeal batter recipe and another delicious recipe he perfected on his own. Since many other people working at A&W and their immediate families share a passion for fishing and/or at least eating fish a fish fry seemed like the perfect way to celebrate!

A & W Compressor is a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business founded by Archie Wilson, Sr. in March 1982. The company is located at 2423 Maynardville Hwy next to the well known Red Gate Farms. A & W Compressor keeps a rather low public profile within the county, because it’s core customer base is industrial, municipal, mining and healthcare. Many people are unaware that modern factories, large cities, and our hospitals cannot operate as we know them without compressed air. A&W Compressors primary service area is East and Middle Tennessee, from Mountain City to the Tennessee River, West of Nashville. As the name A & W Compressor and Mechanical Services, Inc., implies the company services and sales new, used, and refurbished compressors and compressed air systems.

Archie Sr. retired from the Air Force in 1975 after serving for 20 years which included two tours in Vietnam. He then began his new retirement career in the compressed air industry servicing compressors. After working in the field for several years, he got the idea of launching a service and sales company of his own. His expertise in service and repairs made him realize the brands of Compressor that excelled in quality and integrity of craftsmanship. The idea was to provide superior compressed air products with excellent customer service. A philosophy the company still lives by today, with service technicians on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The team at A&W Compressor values their customers and truly loves what they do, as evidenced by a very high customer retention rate, with many facilities being with them from the start in 1982.

It was also important to Archie Sr. that the company be family oriented. Family is important to him and he incorporated this value into the business. Several people started their career with the company straight out of high school and are still working there today. Some have literally raised their families from birth through high school and college while working at A & W Compressor.

Archie Sr. and Jr. both want to express their gratitude to everyone at A&W Compressor for their expertise, hard work and dedication to the company which has contributed to it’s success over the years. They Thank all of their customers for allowing them to be of service to them. They Thank God for allowing them the privilege to navigate the challenges of running a small family oriented business.