Simpson Technologies Corporation (originally known as National Engineering Company), today a Delaware corporation, was originally founded by Peter L. Simpson as a sole proprietorship. Mr. Simpson was initially a practicing foundryman in his native land of Scotland, having become a foundry apprentice at the age of 10. After leaving Scotland for the new world to pursue advancement and freedom of thought, Mr. Simpson continued his close association with the industry by working in, and later managing, several foundries in Canada and the United States. Peter Simpson built a foundry in Winnipeg, Canada to produce castings during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. At the turn of the century, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio and became an American citizen, a life-long dream.

Somewhat typical for a creative mind, during these times he made and lost several fortunes. On May 29th, 1884 he was granted a patent from the United States for the world's first automatic brick press. Until this time all bricks were made by hand. This machine made six bricks a second, each being the same weight and size. It made possible the "brick revolution" of the pre-automobile age. This equipment was the basis for the beginning of the Simpson Brick Press Company of Chicago, Illinois.

Capitalizing on his genius and capabilities as an inventor, Peter Simpson started National Engineering Company in 1911, utilizing the Scottish Bagpiper as the corporate symbol. Returning his attention to the foundry industry, National Engineering Company was developed around his invention of the first practical muller-type mixing machine. The majority of his early business with the muller mixer was still primarily for the refractory brick, ceramic and foundry industries. Peter Simpson died in 1917 of a stroke brought about, unquestionably, by overwork.

The Simpson family, and other representatives of National Engineering Company, were instrumental in the early development of an organized American foundry industry. In 1919 National Engineering Company, along with five other companies, founded the Foundry Equipment Manufacturers Association (FEMA) to promote the growth and strength of this segment of the foundry industry. Three National Engineering Company Presidents have since served as President of FEMA (now CISA - the Casting Industry Suppliers Association). In June of 1934, Mr. W. C. Packard of National Engineering Company assisted in the organization of the first local chapter of the American Foundrymen’s Society (AFS) at the Great Northern Hotel in Chicago. He was appointed as the first Secretary of the Chicago Chapter. National Engineering Company has also been very active at the National level in AFS and has again provided three Company Presidents to serve as Presidents of the national AFS organization.

After Peter Simpson's death, his son, Herbert S. Simpson, took over the Company operation and expanded the business by developing a line of mold handling, conveying and auxiliary equipment for use in conjunction with the basic Mix-Muller. Herbert Simpson directed the first formal foreign expansion of the growing capabilities of the Company. In the 1930's he developed relationships with Augusts Ltd. Of Halifax, England and Georg Fischer AG of Schauffhausen, Switzerland to manufacture and market Simpson equipment under license. In later years other relationships were organized with leading manufacturers in Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Japan. From this early beginning the basic design of the Simpson equipment is widely known, and sometimes imitated, throughout the world. Herbert Simpson died in 1957.

Herbert Simpson's son, Bruce L. Simpson, joined the Company in 1934. In 1937, Bruce Simpson succeeded his father as President and CEO. During the rapid industrialization of the United States in World War II he managed the Company’s high rate of growth into larger projects and a broader product line. He continued the geographic expansion of the market for our products and, in 1960, he established the highly successful Technology License Agreement with Sintokogio, Ltd. Of Nagoya, Japan, a strong relationship that continues today. He was instrumental in the continued development and expansion of the Company’s product lines, and in particular, the introduction of the Simpson Multi-Mull in the mid-1960’s. Today, the Simpson Multi-Mull is still the only widely accepted continuous mixer for foundry molding sand preparation, and is widely used in the production of a diversified array of process industry materials, such as chocolate, iron ore, charcoal, etc.

Bruce Simpson established the first directly operated office of National Engineering Company overseas. In the mid-1960's the company "Simpson Maschinen AG" was formed in Zug, Switzerland as a sister company to the Chicago office in order to assume the responsibilities for the Simpson products in Continental Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Bruce Simpson retired from active management in 1972, and passed away in 1988.

The Company is now headed by Henry W. Dienst, who joined the company in 1964, became President in 1970, Chief Executive Officer in 1972, and Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1988. Mr. Dienst is the son-in-law of Mr. Bruce Simpson. Under the direction of Henry Dienst the Company has achieved its highest level of sales and international prominence.

In the 1980's the Company aggressively entered the age of high technology and "globalization". Company facilities include a sophisticated Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) engineering system, desk-top publishing, computerized inventory and purchasing, and an equipment demonstration/ development laboratory that are among the finest in the industry. Most of our equipment is now sold with computer aided machine control systems that we have designed.

In 1987, the operations of Simpson Maschinen AG were merged directly into the U.S. based National Engineering Company organization to better exploit the synergies available with world-wide scale and closer managerial cooperation. Now operating as a wholly owned branch, National Engineering Company - Zug has complete control over the design, manufacture, sale and service of the Company's equipment in Europe.

As a result of continued growth and the need for more advanced facilities, on November 5th, 1991 the Company moved from downtown Chicago to a new facility constructed to our specifications in suburban Aurora, approximately 70 kilometers west of Chicago. The approximately 3000m2 building includes a warehouse, 500m2 research and development laboratory and a modern office complex. The new facility provides for all the needs of a highly automated business and allows for substantial future growth.

In manufacturing, the Company continues to utilize the philosophy of a "virtual factory." National Engineering Co. does not own a manufacturing facility. Instead, all the products are produced by super-efficient sub-suppliers throughout the world - wherever the value and quality best meet the objectives of the Company. This has been the manufacturing philosophy of the Company since its beginning and is now widely emulated by other companies and industries throughout the world.

In 1992 the Company began to market a line of highly advanced foundry sand laboratory testing equipment produced by the R. Gerosa SRL company of Rosario, Argentina. Formally introduced to the North American industry in 1993, and the World in 1994, the Simpson/Gerosa equipment has achieved significant market share and is destined to set a new world standard for machine design in this market.

In early 1995 Mr. Bruce W. Dienst was promoted to President of National Engineering Co. Mr. Dienst is a great, great-grandson of the Company founder, Peter Simpson, and represents the fifth consecutive generation of family management to attain the position of Company President. Also during 1995, Mr. Bruce Dienst served a term as the youngest ever President of the American Casting Industry Suppliers Association.

To continue the process of development and/or acquisition of advanced technology in our field, in 1995 the Company acquired the Dietert Automation Products from the company George Fischer Foundry Systems of Holly, Michigan. This acquisition provided key elements of control technology for the Company products and a full range of peripheral equipment to expand the scope of our delivery and process control in the foundry molding sand preparation sector.

For strategic reasons, on March 1st, 1996, some 84 years after our founding, National Engineering Company changed our name to Simpson Technologies Corporation. Research had indicated that the Simpson name, as it is connected to our products, was one of the world’s most recognized and respected names in the foundry and process industry machinery market sector. To capitalize on, and further strengthen our brand name recognition, we adopted the Simpson name in our Company name together with the word "Technologies" which more accurately represented our strategic focus. The new Company name dramatically and symbolically establishes our firm commitment to the same strategic focus of developing new and advanced technologies that inspired Peter Simpson in 1912.

The heart of our product line today remains the large industrial mixers. Throughout the United States and all parts of the world, the batch-type Simpson Mix-Muller and continuous-type Simpson Multi-Mull are known and respected high performance, intensive mixing machines whose applications are well diversified throughout all the steel, mining, foundry and chemical processing industries. Typical uses of the Simpson Mix-Muller now cover a wide range of diversified products, including ceramics, powdered metals, fertilizers, battery paste, colored pigments, chocolate, abrasives, mineral ores, welding fluxes, pharmaceuticals, resins, charcoal, refractories, military explosives and specialty chemicals.

However, Simpson Technologies Corporation remains particularly distinguished, and is still best known throughout the world, for our achievements in all phases of foundry molding sand preparation, including mixing, cooling, reclamation, aeration, on-line control and automation, laboratory testing, system engineering, and a wide variety of process automation equipment. For this equipment we currently have the a leading market share in the North American and Japan/Asia markets. Certain machines also enjoy the top share in the highly competitive Continental European market. Our customers include virtually all of the major foundry organizations throughout the world.

The Company is still guided by the belief that technical advancement and innovation, superior engineering, manufacturing quality, productivity, reliability and customer service are the most important principles essential to achieving our goals for sustained growth and success.