Company

Olea {noun} : a genius of about twenty species in the family Oleaceae, native to the warm temperate and tropical regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They are drupe fruit bearing trees, most commonly olives.

Olea Inc. was founded by Chairman Fernando Olea and Presidents Rene and Mark Olea in 1975 in the garage of their Cerritos California home. The company was inspired by one uniting goal; to make great furniture. Fernando, a talented and accomplished carpenter, taught Rene and Mark from a very young age the skills that would later be the key to their combined success. With an honest passion for craftsmanship the three enjoyed bringing their clients creations into reality though designing, engineering, and producing commissioned works of art. Quickly their drive, innovation, and creative desire took Olea to new heights and had soon outgrown their workspace. Olea’s first offices and work shop was located just miles away in Downey California. The new location was roughly 10,000 square feet and afforded them the space they needed to take on the kinds of projects their growing list of clients were requesting. The company had made the switch from furniture and shelving, into full scale display and exhibit manufacturing.

Between 1977 and 1986 while in the Downey location Olea grew and flourished like an olive tree. Olea extended its branches across a multitude of industries. Notable accomplishments during this period of growth include a full scale educational children’s exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry Los Angeles which is still in use today. It was also during this time, in 1983, Olea built the first kiosk in company history. The first kiosk client was the Los Angeles County Fair. The purpose of the kiosk was as an educational interactive system for World of Horses. The kiosk ran off of an IBM X85 and a Pioneer Laser Disc and was housed in a wood cabinet. To press the Laser Disc to operate the video for the kiosk was $50,000 alone, with a total cost for the two kiosk project reaching $500,000! Using an inflation calculator that amount is equivalent to over a $1,000,000 today.

In 1986 Olea moved from the Downey location to its current location in Artesia California. In 1987 Olea hit another landmark in the company history developing a car stereo display with the first red light switching system of its time. This project was developed with Pioneer Electronics. It was also for Pioneer Electronics Olea produced integrated speaker boxes between 1995 and 1997 at a rate of 2,500 a week or 10,000 units monthly.

In 1998 Rene Olea’s son Frank Olea came on board and under his own ambition became the main product developer for the new Olea kiosk division. The kiosk division has experienced consistent growth under Frank’s advisement and has become the main profit center for Olea Inc. as of 2003. Frank has since become a controlling partner and is acting CEO of Olea. He continues to drive Olea’s innovation in the kiosk and digital signage marketplace under his mantra, “better kiosks through intelligent design.”

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