Joint Specialists Celebrating 31 Years!

 

Looking Back as We Move Forward: 31 Years of Joint Specialists

As Joint Specialists, Inc. (JSI) begins our 31st year in business, we find it important to pause and reflect on where we came from — and how far the industry has evolved. Our story doesn’t really begin in 1995; our roots run much deeper than that.

Our founders, Stan Simpson and Sam Damico, were both part of the original Raychem Corporation team, working directly with the company in the early 1970s — a period that helped shape today’s modern pipeline coating industry. Their early work set the foundation for what would eventually become Joint Specialists: a company built on technical expertise, innovation, and a commitment to protecting critical infrastructure.

Recently, while looking through some old boxes in our archives, we came across nearly 50 project photo books filled with historic installations and coating projects. It’s fascinating to see how much the industry — and safety standards — have changed over the decades. Among the treasures was a set of photos from a 1973 project in Oswego, New York, showing an early Raychem heat-shrink sleeve being installed as a jacket continuation on an insulated line.

Different times, different tools — but the same core mission: creating long-lasting, reliable joint protection solutions.

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Innovation and Expansion Over the Years

JSI has never stopped evolving. Our journey from those early Raychem days to the present has been marked by key milestones that expanded our capabilities and the value we bring to our customers:

• 2014 — BBS (Bundled Bore System)
  JSI invented and launched the BBS system, a groundbreaking solution for multi-pipe bundled road bores. What started as an idea to make installations faster and cleaner has become an industry-recognized standard for bundled pipeline crossings.

• 2019 — Powercrete Product Line
  We added the Powercrete family of epoxy coatings, enhancing our ability to deliver high-performance pipeline corrosion protection. This addition strengthened our role as a one-stop provider for both field-applied and factory coatings.

• 2025 — Stopaq Partnership
  This year, we’re proud to announce that JSI has added Stopaq to our lineup — a unique, self-healing visco-elastic coating system that represents the next generation of pipeline corrosion prevention. It’s another step forward in our ongoing effort to provide innovative, long-term protection solutions for our clients.

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From the Past to the Future

Looking back at those black-and-white project photos from the 1970s reminds us that innovation doesn’t happen overnight. It’s built over decades — by people who care deeply about quality and by a company that continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in pipeline protection.

As we celebrate more than three decades in business, we remain committed to the same principles that guided our founders: integrity, innovation, and hands-on expertise.

Here’s to the next chapter — and to continuing the legacy that started over 50 years ago with a heat-shrink sleeve in Oswego, NY.

Oswego, NY - October 1973 - TPS 24000 Installation for Jacket Continuation

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.