SPEC Celebrates 35 Years!

SPEC ENGINEERING CELEBRATES 35TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY AS A FULL SERVICE PROCESS ENGINEERING FIRM

SPEC Engineering is proud to announce that 2014 marks its 35th year offering bulk material handling system solutions. SPEC was founded on March 4, 1979 in Springfield, IL as a representative of leading manufacturers of conveying, feeding, dust collection, and process equipment. By the next year, SPEC had evolved into a complete line supplier by providing their first large mixing and ingredient automation project for a multinational confections company in the Chicago Area. Since then, SPEC has been offering custom-designed solutions to the food and specialty chemical, energy, consumer products, and pharmaceutical industries.

As SPEC has grown over the past 3 ½ decades, it has continued to improve each year by adding to its experience and capacity. Ten years after opening its doors for business, SPEC moved to Joliet, IL and added complete AutoCAD capabilities, engineering design, and project management services. In 1994, SPEC provided their first custom processing line for a pharmaceutical company overseas in Puerto Rico. And by the turn of the millennium, SPEC had added in-house process automation and controls capabilities.

Now SPEC has delivered process systems and support to customers in over 30 states and 20 countries worldwide. Brian Bernard, president of SPEC, attributes the company’s 35 years of success to individuals both inside and outside of the organization. “We would like to thank each of our loyal customers and dedicated employees who are all responsible for helping us reach this special milestone in SPEC’s history,” said Bernard.

Today, SPEC maintains its small business size and approach to customers. SPEC now operates in two Illinois locations; a main office in Chicago, and an assembly and innovation center in Plainfield. Although the company has seen many changes throughout the years, it has always kept its commitment to customer satisfaction its top-priority. SPEC is proud of the past 35 years of growth and is looking forward to serving the industry for years to come.

A Timeline of SPEC’s history of success and achievement milestones:

1980 – First large mixing and ingredient automation project for a multinational confections company in the Chicago Area.
1982 – First design-build complete processing line dust collection for a foreign owned toner manufacturer.
1983 – Completes fluff aspiration project for Fortune 100 health care consumer products.
1985 – Adds complete AutoCAD capabilities for design and plant layout.
1987 – Completes process system design and supply of a special candy manufacturing process.
1989 – Moves to Joliet, IL and adds engineering design and project management services and contracts with large specialty chemical manufacturing.
1992 – Provides state of the art PLC based process system for large consumer dinner manufacturer.
1994 – Designs custom processing for the pharmaceutical industry in Chicago and Puerto Rico.
1996 – Designs and supplies custom equipment and systems for large chewing gum manufacturer for nine global manufacturing plants.
1998 – SPEC reaches milestone of $100 Million of installed systems.
1999 – SPEC adds in-house process automation and controls capabilities.
2002 – Provides complete systems in the specialty plastic compounding industry.
2003 – Completion of packaging and processing systems for large European corn wet milling manufacture.
2005 – SPEC adds maintenance and plant support capabilities and relocates/consolidates three factories in the sweetener industry.
2006 – SPEC reaches milestone of $250 million of installed systems worldwide.
2008 – Partners with process equipment manufacturer to provide a complete coffee roasting and packaging factory.
2010 – SPEC design and builds complete processing skid systems for top electronics manufacturer in Italy.
2011 – Designs special equipment for food product conveying and CIP integrated equipment.
2012 – Provides services to design and build a complete fiber processing factory in Wisconsin.
2014 – Celebrates 35 years of successful innovations in the material and processing industries.

Read our press release on Powder and Bulk Solid’s Website here!