31 Years of Change, Consistency, and Commitment

 

Established in 1995, Joint Specialists (JSI) has truly seen it all. Over the past 31 years, one thing has been nearly constant: change. And yet, through every transition, JSI has remained grounded in the same core values—quality products, trusted relationships, and a deep understanding of the industries we serve.

JSI was founded by Stan Simpson and Sam Damico, both of whom began their careers in the 1970s as direct employees of Raychem. When Raychem was sold, Stan and Sam made a bold move. On a Friday, they were Raychem salesmen. By Monday, they were business owners—launching Joint Specialists as a Master Distributor. That leap of faith laid the foundation for more than three decades of success.

Since then, we’ve witnessed an impressive series of name changes across the manufacturers and brands behind our products:

Raychem became Tyco International,
then Covalence,
then Berry Plastics,
then Berry Global,
then Seal for Life,
and now Henkel.

That’s a lot of evolution on paper—but what’s mattered most is what hasn’t changed. The products have continued to be manufactured to the same strict specifications, with the same commitment to performance, reliability, and quality that customers have trusted for decades.

JSI has evolved right alongside the industry. While we began as a Master Distributor for Raychem and Covalence heat shrink sleeves, our offerings have expanded significantly over time. Today, we are also a Master Kitter for Powercrete products and a stocking distributor for Stopaq visco-elastic materials. These additions allow us to better serve a wider range of project needs while maintaining the technical expertise our customers expect.

Innovation has also come from within. In response to real-world field challenges, JSI developed its own proprietary product: BBS—bumpers designed to protect pipelines during multi-pipe pull-through applications such as bores and directional drills. This product reflects what JSI has always been about: listening to customers, understanding the work, and delivering practical solutions.

As we look back on more than 30 years in business, it’s impossible not to recognize the accomplishment of our founders. Building a small business is hard. Sustaining it for over three decades—through industry consolidation, product evolution, and constant change—is something truly worth celebrating.

Here’s to Stan and Sam, and to the people, partnerships, and products that have shaped Joint Specialists into what it is today. The names may change, but our commitment never has.

Joint Specialists Celebrates 20 Years!

JSI Celebrates 20 Years as a Pipeline Coating Supply Leader

     In 2015, Joint Specialists celebrates their twentieth year as a leader in the pipeline coating world.  Throughout every one of those twenty years, we have been fully and completely committed to representing Raychem / Covalence / Berry Plastics as our primary (and for many of those years sole) product responsibility.  With direct responsibility for US product sales, we have excelled year after year, specifying, processing, manufacturing and selling many million heat shrinkable sleeves and pipeline coating solutions.  

JSI's home for the last 8 of their 20 years of service

     Our story doesn't actually begin in 1995 though!  Our story starts back in the late 1970's when Stan Simpson and Sam Damico were both young men with dreams of building a career under the tutelage of Raychem great:  Paul Cook.  Both Stan and Sam excelled within Raychem spending the their entire careers involved with Raychem (currently called Covalence) as direct employees or distributors.  

     So while Joint Specialists is celebrating twenty years as a company, our history with the Raychem / Covalence product line actually currently stretches back around 37 years!  I expect there haven't been many folks in this day and age who are able to spend 37 years committed to a single product line.  

     As for me, I'm just a babe in comparison, celebrating my 15th year with Joint Specialists and committed to the Raychem / Covalence / Tyco Adhesives product line.  As I've said many times, no matter the company name; the products are built in the same plant, using the same formulas, built from the same manufacturing specifications.  Different name at times - but same Raychem quality and ingenuity.  

     There aren't many people in the industry who can match our dedication and commitment to this product line.  There aren't many people who can match our experience level.  There aren't many people who can match our technical knowledge.  There aren't many people who can match our access to large volumes of inventory. 

Berry Plastics - Covalence Shrink Sleeves

Berry Plastics Covalence Heat Shrinkable Sleeves

     Above, you see the logos for both Berry Plastics and Covalence heat shrinkable technology.  Berry Plastics is the owner of many, many, many companies....one of which is Seal for Life.  Seal for Life owns and operates several pipeline coating technologies, one of which is Covalence heat shrinkable sleeves which were formerly known as Raychem heat shrinkable sleeves or Tyco Adhesives or Tyco Electronics or Tyco CPG (Tyco Corrosion Prevention Group).  Things sure do get awfully confusing at times in 2015 corporate America, don't they??

     Though the name has changed many times over the last decade (and I'm afraid there is the distinct possibility that the name changes again several times in the coming decade), there are a few facts that are important to remember.  In this last decade, the products haven't changed a bit.  The manufacturing plant has not changed a bit.  The stringent quality requirements haven't changed a bit.  The excessively strong product performance hasn't changed a bit.  The only change has been the labels on the boxes and the printing on the sleeves themselves. 

     So whether you are looking for the premiere product for coating road bores and directional drilling applications:  DIRAX.  Or whether you are looking for our standard WPCT shrink sleeves (or our WPC100M or our WPC120 or our HTLP sleeves), you've come to the right place. 

     In addition, if you are looking for shrink sleeves that meet the AWWA C216 standard, we have those as well:

     So, don't let the "Berry Plastics" name scare you.  Sure, they are the industry leader is mass produced plastic materials selling everything from plastic bags to plastic containers....but they are also the industry leader in pipeline coating prevention products; with multiple product technologies in their bag including two part epoxies (Powercrete), viscoelastic (Stopaq), shrink sleeves (Covalence), tapes (Polyken) and linear anodes (Anodeflex). 

What Happened to Raychem Corp?

I was at OTC last week and NACE just a month or two ago.  It is amazing how often this question comes up!  The short answer to this question is: only the name changed.  The longer answer is...

In 1999 a company called Tyco International purchased Raychem Corp (depending on how good your memory is, you may have seen Tyco in the news a time or two).  Our world (Raychem Pipeline) didn't really experience much of a change.  We were able to continue with the Raychem name with no issues.

Sometime around 2007, Tyco International split into three companies.  One of those companies was Tyco Electronics.  Again we were able to continue using the Raychem name; the products were labelled Raychem, etc.

Also at this time however, the Raychem Pipeline Group, along with Polyken Tape and Powercrete liquid epoxies were grouped up and sold off to a company called Berry Plastics (a giant company).  The Raychem name was to say with Tyco Electronics at that time and Berry Plastics would have a limited amount of time to re-brand Raychem Pipeline Products into something else.  Thus, Covalence CPG was born.  During this period; the original Raychem Pipeline Products were transitioned into being called "Covalence Raychem" and then within a few months to being called strictly "Covalence."

This lasted for a couple years (maybe less) and then the product was briefly re-branded as a Berry Plastics product.  When I say briefly, I might hazard a guess that it was less than a year.  I shudder to think of the cost of changing data sheets; reprinting boxes; buying new labels, modifying production lines to print the new company name on the products and a multitude of other visible and hidden expenses.

The Berry Plastics days were very limited (though they do still own Covalence and several other pipe coating technologies.  So the old Raychem product line has gone back to being called "Covalence Heat Shrinkable Products" (as you can see in the logo just up the page).  So, back one generation in the name, but we do have a new product family that we are a part of:  Seal for Life.  Seal for Life is the name of the company who owns:  Stopaq (a viscoelastic / polyisobutylene product); Polyken (cold applied tapes and factory applied line coatings); Powercrete (a liquid epoxy for field joint coating and another used as an abrasion resistant overcoat for factory applied FBE) and Anodeflex (a long line, linear anode that is a fantastic cathodic protection solution for difficult, rocky soils and for rehab work).  This new Seal for Life logo is as follows:

Now, through all of those changes, there are several things that have never changed.  We still have the same manufacturing specifications, the same raw materials, the same brilliant research and development people; the same factory; great adhesives; fantastic backing and without a doubt the highest quality product on the market today.  Don't let the name changes fool you.  We've been a technological leader in pipeline coatings for 40 years now.  We have proven products.  We have technical expertise.  We have long, successful use histories.  We have it all.  Now - how can we help you with your next job?