SPX history

In 1923 they bought the No-Leak-O Piston Ring Company, which allowed the firm to further increase its production of the crucial engine component.

By 1925, they were able to begin exporting their product and to enter the increasingly lucrative replacement parts market.

After acquiring the Accuralite Company in 1931, the company changed its name to “Sealed Power Corporation” and started manufacturing piston rings, pistons and cylinder sleeves for military applications.

Sealed Power Co.’s first plant opened outside Muskegon in 1946.

In 1957, a Replacement Distribution Center was added in LaGrange, Indiana.

By 1959, replacement parts accounted for about 50 percent of Sealed Power sales and served as an important hedge against the highly cyclical original equipment market.

In 1968 the company acquired another cylinder sleeve plant in Mexico as well as the Consolidated Die Cast Corporation (since renamed Contech), a Michigan firm that produced precision die castings.

The company acquired Kent-Moor Corporation in 1982.

Also acquired in 1985 was the V.L. Churchill Group of Daventry, England, a major supplier of specialty tools and service products in Europe, further expanding Sealed Power's overseas presence.

By 1988 Sealed Power's products ranged from piston rings to door hardware and were sold to a wide range of markets.

That action came in April of 1989 when it was announced that the company would undergo a major restructuring.

The first step in the repositioning of the company was the sale of the automotive replacement parts division to Federal-Mogul in September 1993.

SPX posted a net loss of $62.3 million in 1996, but this resulted largely from the recording of unusual expenses, including a $67.8 million write-off of goodwill and $20 million in restructuring charges.

Other early moves in the Blystone era were the consolidation of divisions to save costs and the elimination of 1,100 jobs by mid-1997.

Revenues surged to $2.71 billion in 1999, while net income was a strong $101.5 million.

SPX spent about $225 million during 2000 to complete 21 acquisitions, most of which were small, strategic purchases.

United Dominion Industries Limited, a manufacturer of engineered products, was acquired in 2001.

Beginning in 2004, the company started to shift to a narrower focus on key end markets related to power and energy, food and beverage, and industrial process infrastructure.

On October 29, 2014, SPX announced that its Board of Directors had unanimously approved a plan for a tax-free spin-off of its Flow Technology reportable segment, its Hydraulic Technologies business, and certain segments of its corporate subsidiaries.

In 2015, SPX Flow was founded, a spin-off from its parent company.

After splitting from SPX Flow, SPX acquired both CUES Inc., a pipeline inspection manufacturer, and Schonstedt Instrument Co., a manufacturer and distributor of magnetic locator products, in 2018.