OPCO® Company History
The Beginning of OPCO Lubrication
OPCO products were first manufactured in the mid-1960’s by Olsen Products Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The OPCO business was acquired by the Madison – Kipp Corporation in Madison, Wisconsin in 1967, where OPCO products were manufactured and sold world-wide by the Madison-Kipp Products Division, and then Kipp Lubrication Systems, beginning in mid-1987. The ChainMaster and WearMaster lubrication products were introduced in 1987. In August 1989 IDEX Corporation acquired Kipp Lubrication Systems from Madison- Kipp Corporation. The Madison, Wisconsin based Kipp Lubrication Systems integrated into the operations of Lubriquip, Inc., of Cleveland, Ohio, which was a unit of the IDEX Corporation. The Madison based operation did business as KLS Lubriquip until 2001, when the use of KLS as part of the company name was discontinued. Lubriquip maintained manufacturing operations in Madison, and in Cleveland, Ohio.
Into the New Millennium with Graco
Graco Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota acquired Lubriquip, Inc. from IDEX Corporation in July 2006. Brands acquired as part of that acquisition by Graco Inc. included: OPCO, WearMaster, Trabon, Manzel and Grease Jockey. Graco Inc. then moved the Lubriquip manufacturing operations in Madison, Wisconsin and Cleveland, Ohio to Anoka, Minnesota where they were manufactured and sold by Graco’s Lubrication Equipment Division.
Present Day Operations
OPCO Lubrication Systems, Inc. acquired the assets related to the OPCO®, ChainMaster®, and WearMaster® brands from Graco, Inc. in October of 2009. Manufacturing of OPCO products were moved to facilities in Fremont, Michigan where OPCO products are made in a joint-venture manufacturing operations with Mighty Lube Systematic Lubrication Inc. Over the years, the OPCO®, ChainMaster®, and WearMaster® product lines have been sold under the company names of: Olsen Products Company, Madison-Kipp Products Division of Madison Kipp Corporation, Kipp Lubrication Systems Inc., KLS, KLS Lubriquip, Graco OPCO, Graco, and now OPCO Lubrication Systems, Inc.
OPCO®, ChainMaster®, and WearMaster® are the registered trademarks of OPCO Lubrication Systems, Inc.