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ABOUT US: Ventry Solutions, Inc.

Please forgive this being such a long page! We plan to break it up into multiple pages by topic in the near future.

Whether you are a dealer of ours or an end user of the product, it may help you to know...

• We have been in business since 1972 and made our first fan in 1989.
• We are the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of VENTRY^® Ventilation Fans, LENTRY^® Generator & Light Systems and LENTRY Legs for Pumps.

• Our products incorporate over 23 years of direct experience, testing, and feedback from our customers, primarily fire personnel, from across the nation.
• We have sufficient financial and human resources to ensure high-quality, timely completion of contracts, regardless of final quantities ordered.
• We try to ship orders within 2 to 3 business days of receiving your order. For orders of three or more units we may need a little longer.
• We track all products to ensure that if parts are ever needed, we send out the correct ones. We encourage our dealers to track sales in some way so that users can be contacted if safety necessitates.
• Additional discounts are available on orders of 10 or more units at a time.
• We changed our business name (nothing else) from J. Neils Enterprises, Inc. to Ventry Solutions, Inc. in 2009 to make things easier for everybody.

Above: James, Sara, Joan
and Doug work on a
huge mailing to customers
in the US.

James

James and John Neils

Joan

Sara

Ken

Doug

Our Team

Knowing who is making a product and why can be very enlightening. Ventry Solutions, Inc. makes only the best equipment possible and provides outstanding customer service—before, during and after the sale. Pertinent to fire/rescue customers, we have four staff members with experience as fire fighters and first responders. Including our friend and subcontractor Myron, we have 123 years of combined firefighting experience between six of us shown in our office Christmas photo!

James Neils
CEO, Mechanical Engineer, Firefighter since 1993. We are proud to share that James was recognized as our local fire department’s Firefighter of the Year for 2012! James was introduced to PPV in 1989 by John Neils (Dad) and has worked with fans and ventilation ever since. He once taught college level physics but gave it up after a year when he calculated his hourly wage. Currently, James serves as Division Chief of Operations (Assistant Chief), an EMT, and a fire fighting Instructor. James is also a pilot and has been working with and on airplanes since he was a small boy. James understands aerodynamics, physics, propellers...He knows how to move air! He is also a talented engineer and expert in fire fighting and ventilation, with a dozen great reasons for every nut, bolt, curve, and material used on our products. Finally, James is an expert you can utilize! Call him anytime. Our business line rings at his home too, so you may reach him even after hours if you call.

John Neils
Founder, and “Dad” to Joan and James.
- Technically retired but still helps as needed. He has been a Firefighter and First Responder since 1989. John’s experience as a pilot, as well as having built several experimental aircraft, led him to be “volunteered” to build our fire department a PPV fan many years ago. Originally called a Windjammer, John built the first VENTRY Fan with help and ideas from fellow Firefighters Myron Richardson (who still does a lot of our welding) and Lynn Borders back in 1989.

Joan (formerly Neils) Rodman
Communications, Marketing, Dealer Support
- Also serves as Fire District Secretary/Treasurer and volunteer Web Admin. She has done data entry and flyer design for Dad and James since Junior High, but came on full time in 2004 to help with marketing for a month. She never left. She has been accused of eating, drinking and breathing fans and lights. She is passionate about getting our products into the hands of those who need them!

Sara Hite
Administrative Assistant
- Formerly volunteered as the Local Program Coordinator with the Idaho Special Olympics. She is ALWAYS friendly and happy to hear from you. Sara is usually the cheerful person you reach first when you call our office.

Ken Birge
Production
- Firefighter from 1997 to 2013. Held the title of Engineer and EMT. Though recently retired from the service, Ken was a certified ventilation instructor.

Doug Weniger
Welding and Production
- Firefighter since 1995 and an EMT. Doug is a dedicated volunteer. When he joined our crew in 2011, also joined our local department in addition to serving on his home department near Coeur d’Alene.

Myron Richardson
Contractor, Welding
- Firefighter since 1976 and an EMT. Myron is a dear friend who does a lot of our welding at his own facility, also in Hauser Lake. He was honored with our department’s Dedication and Devotion Award for the second year in a row for 2012! Myron and his dog Star are pictured in our office photo.

We are often “helped” around the office by James’s sons Walter and William, and Joan’s son Reylen, shown below. On special occasions, Ken’s grandsons join us, too. James’s dog Graycee spends most days with us at the shop. She is shown below sitting on a box of paper in our shop this January.

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Pictures and day-to-day fun stuff around the shop are posted on our Facebook page (no account required)

Our Philosophy

Mission statement: To build the best equipment—in safety, quality, and value—while keeping the designs simple for minimal maintenance and intuitive, cost-effective operation.

Our goal is to build safety equipment that lasts forever! Like the 1941 Ford 9N Tractor we use at the shop for plowing snow, we want VENTRY and LENTRY Units to perform safely and effectively for a very very long time. Our designs are driven by customer needs and feedback, in an unending pursuit of innovation and improvement. As a result, we make our living selling our products, not their parts! We believe this is good business, proven by the loyalty of our customers and the track record of our products.

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History

Ventry Solutions, Inc. has been family owned and operated since 1968. We were originally incorporated in 1972 under the name Quality Builders Inc of Bozeman. The dba J. Neils Enterprises, Inc. was adopted after we began manufacturing fans. In the year 2010, we have officially changed the business name from Quality Builders Inc. dba J Neils Enterprises to Ventry Solutions, Inc. (Why did we change it? Click here for the press release.)

Our products are engineered and manufactured in the USA at our Hauser, Idaho facility and we are very efficient so five of us keep everything running smoothly and get products out the door fast. All of us volunteer in our community, and four of us are volunteers with the local fire department. Quite a bit of our manufacturing process involves other members of the department, the local community, and various small businesses. In this way, our livelihoods are interconnected with many others’ which serves as a driving force in making only products of the highest quality and efficacy to ensure safety and continued demand.

We are privileged to serve brave, hard working customers across the United States and Canada and to be expanding internationally every year. We hold ourselves and our dealers to the highest ethical standards and appreciate every single order, taking special pride in earning repeat business. It is our great and sincere pleasure to produce products we know save lives and contribute to the betterment of communities both local and worldwide.

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Windjammer Fans

We built our first PPV fan in 1989, when John Neils first joined the Hauser Lake Fire Department. Since then, VENTRY^® Fans (originally known as Windjammer™ Fans) have become well-known in the fire fighting industry for their durability and effectiveness. Our second product line, LENTRY^® Generator Lights, arose from one of our sharp customers who was so impressed with the legs on the fans that he told us, “You”ve got to put those legs on a generator light!”

Thank you to our fellow firefighters, hot air balloon pilots and others around the world who have supported us over the years and given generously of their input, suggestions, and expertise.

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Veteran Owned Small Business

John Neils served in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive. He was a heavy equipment mechanic with the 864th Engineer Battalion, Company A. As a result of John’s service, Ventry Solutions, Inc. is a Veteran Owned Small Business.

Solar Miser^®

For those interested in solar energy, we offer the Solar Miser Window Energy Meter, which John Neils invented many years ago. It is an insolation meter which tells you the net energy flow through windows, helping you take advantage of energy gains when heating and energy losses when cooling.

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