06/07/2026
🏭 From a diner conversation to a global instrumentation company. Here is how it started.
In 1951, MechniArts Associates moved to 401 Wyandotte in Kansas City, Missouri. That move marked the official start of what would become SOR Controls Group.
Their first big win came from a practical problem. TWA planes had three different seat widths, which meant three different tray sizes crowding a small galley. Roy Dunlap solved it with one adjustable tray table and a simple thumb dial. That product launched a lifelong business relationship with a young TWA sales rep who walked through the door looking for a solution.
Decades later, on a 1987 TWA flight to England, Roy flipped over his tray table and found the original stainless steel label still riveted underneath: "Product of MechniArts Associates, 401 Wyandotte, KC, MO." Quality built to last.
Then in 1956, Roy overheard two men at a diner complaining about oil tanks overflowing because no pressure switch was accurate enough to control the flow. Roy left his lunch and went back to work.
He partnered with KU Physics Professor Ben Brown. Ben had the theory. Roy had the ability to turn it into something real. One evening Ben talked, Roy sketched, and together they created the Static "O" Ring® pressure switch. That night, the future of SOR in instrumentation was born.
🔧 80 years of solving problems that matter.
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