Our History

From the late 1960’s to the early 80’s “hot-deck cold-deck” multizone units were the system of choice for design engineers in most low-rise commercial and institutional buildings. These systems mixed an inexpensive supply of hot and cold air to condition numerous, independently controlled zones in a building. When energy costs escalated with the oil embargo of the late 70’s and early 80’s, traditional multizone systems became obsolete due to the high cost of mixing hot and cold air simultaneously.
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In 1986 Dick Peitz conceived an idea to replace existing, worn-out multizone units with multiple, highly efficient, independently controlled systems housed in a customized, rooftop penthouse structure. The first penthouse unit was field-assembled on the roof of a school in West Bend, WI in the summer of 1988. The success of this first venture proved the PMZ concept could provide a viable replacement for thousands of multizone units. The need for multizone units grew in popularity and in 1999 Dick and his son Bill first opened the doors of Custom Mechanical Equipment. CME was first based in East Troy, Wisconsin in a small manufacturing facility. As the business grew so did CME, Bill’s son Erik, the current owner, became heavily involved in the company and it's growth.

In 2003 CME moved to Ponca City, OK to a more geographically centralized location to help better serve its nationwide customer base. This moved more than tripled manufacturing space and doubled office space. The move to Ponca City allowed CME to expand into other industries and products. Custom Mechanical Equipment currently manufactures the PMZ3, Rooftop Screening, Power Distribution Centers, and Battery Storage Systems. CME also does custom fabrication. Due to the growth the Peitz family also opened Custom Powder and Blasting, a company that specializes in Sandblasting, Powder Coating, and Cerakote.