1926
SSP Fittings Corp. is founded in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. SSP begins as a contract manufacturer of screw machine products in brass and carbon steel to general industry.
1940s
World War II shifts the company’s focus to production of fittings for tubing, pipe, and hose. Following the war, SSP’s customers are able to satisfy their own requirements without relying on outside companies for production. SSP contracts.
1970s
New Focus. By the early 1970s, SSP embarks on a market & manufacturing driven strategy of producing quality fittings from difficult-to-machine alloys. The performance requirements of customers utilizing these materials in industries as diverse as marine, defense, offshore oil, and aerospace, drive SSP to establish both conformance quality standards, and service levels, which are significantly ahead of general industry at the time.
1980s
The “Works”. Things are really happening for SSP. The company establishes a product line and distribution channel for hydraulic fittings, which requires significant investment in a new, state-of-the-art facility south of Cleveland. SSP builds a 165,000 sq. ft. facility to house our vertically-integrated Works, including, by now, tool & die design & production, custom closed-dieforging, machining, finishing operations, assembly and test. With over 200 work centers, SSP’s Twinsburg “Works” is the largest single-site facility in the entire Industry.
1990s
Market Expansion. SSP’s distribution network for high performance hydraulic fittings expands into some select global markets, and new standards of performance are required of US-based distributors to meet the growing competitive challenge. Investments in design engineering usher in the introduction of SSP Instrumentation and brands Duolok, Unilok, Griplok & TruFit instrumentation-quality tube & pipe fittings for process, research & power generation markets. Finally, as has now come to be expected, SSP is one of the first companies in our market to earn ISO 9001 certification.
2000
The New Force. SSP acquires Flolok Valve and enters the instrumentation valve marketplace. Significant investments in information technology & modern production equipment prepare the company to leverage its reputation for product availability & speed.
2004
SSP makes a commitment to ourselves and our customers to launch a sustained implementation of Lean-Sigma as our primary operations strategy. Lean manufacturing – a business planning and execution system based on the Toyota Production System – is an excellent framework for extending SSP’s historic advantage in speed and product availability.
2007
Utilizing Kaizen methodology and Six Sigma tools, new products and capabilities are introduced at a rapid rate. All manufacturing continues to be performed by SSP to keep replenishment times as quick as our growing customer base.
2008
100th Kaizen event completed. Factory floor transformation includes organization into Value Streams, widespread use of visual, real-time controls, emphasis on set-up reduction and 5S; utilizing Kanban pull based scheduling of A & B inventory items, and Design-for-Lean Sigma methodologies.
2019
SSP recognized as an exceptional manufacturing facility awarded IndustryWeek Best Plants winner.
