About Us
The American Dream
Our History
Conveyor systems using chains have been around as long as the assembly line.
Chains were stronger than ropes, could bear more weight, and cover greater distances. The stress and strain on the pins would lead to wear that stretched chains. This also caused corrosion and noise. So chains needed to be lubricated regularly.
Popular ways to oil a chain included slow drips, brushes, or manual sprays. For decades, manufacturing plants had to hire teams of “lubricators” to keep their machines and conveyor chains operating. But Buck had a great idea – automation.
LubeCon, short for “lubricating conveyors” was started in 1976 with the first goal to automate lubrication for conveyor chains. We invented the spray valves and switches to trigger spray. The controller was the real hero here. With a lot of engineering, testing, and trials, we were able to create a device to control the amount of lubricant being applied, how often a system would go into a lube cycle, and so forth.
Manufacturers loved it! LubeCon sales took off and quickly Buck and Helen were hiring engineers, assemblers, customer service teams, and a sales staff. Headquarters moved to White Cloud, MI, where we continue to reside today. Buck and Helen worked for many years to grow LubeCon into the market leader it is today. They expanded product lines, developed new lubricants, and spread across the nation. They retired from the business in 1999 when they sold LubeCon to Castrol, though family members and friends have continued to work on the business.
From 1999 to 2022, LubeCon has been part of the Castrol Industrial team, later owned by the global energy company, bp. In June 2022, Castrol divested the LubeCon business to three managers at LubeCon who have bought out the company and run it today. They bring the discipline of large business management along with the passion for small business service to our customers.
WHAT WE STAND FOR
LubeCon USA is the American Dream realized. We are headquartered in America with our Customer Service, Engineering, Operations, Sales & Marketing, and Finance Teams all in the United States. We build the equipment here. We blend a majority of the lubricants here. We have pride in this American Dream company.
Customers are the heart of everything we do. LubeCon has the largest group of engineers, sales, and service teams in the nation. This helps us reach our customers like no one else. Conveyors cannot have unplanned stops, so our manufacturing customers depend upon us to keep them moving. That means helping out on nights and weekends. Our professional installation and service teams are driven to help customers keep moving.
We center ourselves around the principles of honesty, integrity, and respect in everything that we do.
Would you like to learn more about LubeCon? We’d love to chat. Please contact us using the links below and someone will be with you right away.
