Oh, what a year! 2021 is our 40th year in business, and it is definitely worth celebrating. It’s been a long evolution from a plastic and steel tank fabricating and lining shop into a premier, turnkey automated industrial machinery company that designs, builds, installs, and services electroplating, anodizing, phosphating, and specialty application equipment. We are pushing technology forward with robotics, software, IIOT, remote access, and safety sensors, while maintaining the old-school mentality of hard-working, reliable equipment, with everyone from engineering to fabrication, installation, service, and support all in-house.
A Family Business.
A father and his two sons founded Corrotec in June, 1981 in Springfield, Ohio: Charles “Chuck” Stratton, and his sons Dave and John Stratton, along with partners Art and Jim Gianakopoulos. Their stated purpose was to support electroplating shops in the Dayton, Ohio region as a mechanical contractor, building plastic tanks and hoods, steel tanks, and adhered linings. Built on a do-it-yourself system of design, fabrication, and installation, all in-house. This spirit and in-house setup have endured to this day.
For decades, lining was Corrotec’s biggest department, with field service and installation an ever-growing part of the business. Always one to push forward new, reliable technology, the company invested very early in plastic welding equipment to make polypropylene tanks and PVC hoods and ductwork. As the industry has transitioned from steel to plastic tanks, so too has Corrotec. Plastic tanks and hoods are now the company’s biggest department, and it has continued to invest in its people and processes, including DVS training for plastic welders as well as a second automated plastic corner bending machine.
Development, Growth, and Expansion.
In the 1980’s, Dave and John both earned their CEF designations, and later each took a turn as the president of the AESF Dayton Chapter. Corrotec also began a long-running working partnership with Plating Specialists Inc (PSI). By the late 1980’s, Corrotec was installing fully automated electroplating systems.
In 1997, Corrotec had been designing, building, installing, and servicing return type and overhead transporter systems for many years, and the need for developing became clear. The Company expanded the building, doubling its size with high bays serviced by overhead cranes, offices, and onsite parts warehousing.
Corrotec also added a controls group in the 1990’s to design, build, install, and service system PLC and electrical components. Today, the Controls group designs, builds, installs, and services everything from software programming, HMI, PLC, and safety systems to electrical wiring, and offers remote support and troubleshooting of equipment in surface finishing, as well as other industries.
In 2004, Corrotec began offering its own complete turnkey surface finishing systems with overhead and sidearm transporters, tanks, plumbing, ventilation, wastewater treatment, structure, and software, and spent the next fifteen years dramatically increasing the capabilities and size of the Mechanical and Controls Engineering groups.
In 2014, the Company began offering industrial wastewater treatment systems. These are done as stand-alone or system-integrated projects, and can run batch or continuous flow, along with water recycling options. Using simple, common software to run automated and manual systems, Corrotec and PSI have worked with Customers to successfully design, build, and install robust industrial wastewater treatment systems.
In 2019, the Company again expanded, adding more office space to house the Controls and Mechanical Engineering Groups. Due to Covid, the groups now split time between office and remote work, which has allowed for better focus time on projects, more productivity, and a healthier work-life balance.
Corrotec has survived multiple recessions, including the Great Recession in 2008 and the Covid Recession of 2020, by doing what we have always done: learning new skills and building reliable, cutting edge equipment. Working through those tough times is a testament to the strength of Corrotec, its employees, and its customers.
Today, Corrotec offers in-house design, build, install, service, and remote support of surface finishing equipment, plating tanks, ventilation hoods and systems, industrial wastewater treatment, automated industrial machinery, safety equipment, and robotic cells, for surface finishing as well as other industries.
To the Future.
Looking forward, Corrotec will continue to lead the industry toward more automation, more process monitoring sensors, more safety systems, and better environmental controls. We also plan to continue to deepen our connection with the surface finishing community.
This year, Corrotec is investing in CMMC compliance, an important cybersecurity certification, to further support our aerospace and defense customers, as well as improve the data quality and data security of services provided to our automotive, medical, and job shop customers.
We also expect to see the continued greening of surface finishing.
Our Mission Statement: We will continue to build reliable equipment that will help companies profitably process parts with safer employees, cleaner air emissions, and cleaner wastewater with less discharge, in ways that are meaningful to their customers, consumers, and regulators.
Thank you, we look forward to another 40 years of reliability, innovation, and fun.
Corrotec, Inc.
