54 business elite canada
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JAN/FEB 2015
By Cheryl Long
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eing located more than three hours west of Ontario’s business hub hasn’t hurt Sarnia Pip-
ing Specialities (SPS). While most businesses maintain at least one address in the Greater
Toronto Area, the company’s position on a major waterway in the heart of the province’s
own Chemical Valley is a key part of its success.
Richard Felton is President of SPS, a family-owned business founded in 1974 by his
father, Dick, who once worked as an instrument technician for Dow Chemical.
The company began as a specialty piping and instrumentation distributor in
Sarnia, a southwestern Ontario city known as a centre for many of the
world’s largest oil and petrochemical companies. Those were the
days before the internet when many products had to be shipped
fromEngland, Germany or the United States and it would take
weeks before equipment arrived. SPS began by building
an inventory, operating a successful “counter busi-
ness” from the mid-1970s through the mid-’80s.
