GILLESPIE &

POWERS, INC.
WWW.GILLESPIEPOWERS.COM
GILLESPIE & POWERS, INC.

GILLESPIE &
POWERS, INC.
FAMILY-OWNED,
GLOBALLY-KNOWN

G
illespie & Powers of St.
Louis, Missouri, designs,
fabricates, installs, and
maintains refractory-lined,
high-temperature furnace equip-
ment for the non-ferrous melting
and hazardous waste industries. The
family-owned company extends
back to 1902, when Gillespie & Daly
Construction, a brick and stone ma-
son firm begun by John H. Gillespie,
completed projects in the St. Louis
area with bricks made from the ar-
ea’s large, high-quality clay deposits.
At that time, the company also
supplied the fire clay bricks that
were used to contain the coal-fired
boilers that provided heat and
GILLESPIE & POWERS, INC.
pany’s management was also transferred to the third
generation - John R. Gillespie, nephew of Charles A.,
was named president of the company in 1966, and
in 1968, Charles K. Gillespie, son of Charles A., came
on board as a partner and vice president. From that
time, the two managed the company through more
stages of growth and prosperity.
Another generation, the fourth, took its place in the
mid-2000s, after John R. died and Charles K. retired.
Jon R. Gillespie, the son of John R., who joined the
company in 1980 as a brick mason after receiving
his degree in mechanical engineering from St. Louis
University, was named president. Today, Gillespie &
Powers is run by Jack B. Gillespie, son of Jon R., and
his cousin, John Peterman, who bought the company
from Jack’s dad, in September 2017.
Today, Gillespie & Powers has about 75 employees,

energy. Certain clay products are known as “refractory” materials,

meaning they remain chemically and physically stable at high
temperatures; thus their use in furnaces, kilns, incinerators, and
Refractory Solutions for
reactors. Over time, the company began to specialize in boilers
AT A GLANCE What We Do…
and high-temperature applications, then ultimately grew into
URC Aluminum Platform Focus:
the engineering and construction of high temperature refractory GILLESPIE & • Reduce process costs
furnaces and systems.
POWERS, INC. • Improve metal quality
• Optimize furnace availability
Early in 1938, Charles A. Gillespie, son of John, H., united with
Frank X. Powers to create Gillespie & Powers Inc. At that time, the WHAT: A company that de-
signs, fabricates, installs, and
city of St. Louis banned the burning of soft coal, which necessitat- maintains refractory-lined, How We Do It…
ed the conversion of boilers to use either gas or oil. So, the com- high-temperature furnace
pany designed the refractories that could do that, and, for many equipment 1. UNDERSTAND CUSTOMER CHALLENGES
by identifying critical wear mechanisms
years, it continued to provide masonry installation services for 2. QUALIFY PRODUCTS with simulated
WHERE: St. Louis, Missouri
heating systems and electric generator stations. wear mechanism testing
It was in the 1960s that, as a result of providing refractory WEBSITE: www.gillespie 3. AUDIT THE PROCESS to understand
specific wear mechanisms
repair services to a number of aluminum clients, the company powers.com
4. SELECT PRODUCTS to provide a
expanded into the aluminum industry, beginning with refractory “prescriptive” lining solution
rebuilding services and culminating in the design, fabrication, and
installation of aluminum melting and holding furnaces. The com- 724-941-9300 • URC4U.com • Sales@URC4U.com
GILLESPIE & POWERS, INC.
including engineers, field supervisors, and office
support. Its head office remains in St. Louis where
it maintains its refractory masonry construction
activities, as well as the aluminum industry seg-
ment, including the design and installation of
melting and scrap preparation equipment. In
addition, the company has masonry construction
field offices in Hannibal, Missouri; Lewisport,
Kentucky; Davenport, Iowa; and, most recently,
Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Most of the company’s current clientele is in
the secondary, or recycled, aluminum market.
“Aluminum is the second most recyclable product
next to lead,” Peterman notes. “And we design and
build aluminum melting and handling equipment
for the aluminum and non-ferrous industry, which
is broad - the U.S., China, South Korea, Brazil,
Mexico, Canada, Japan – we’ve serviced all those
For more information, call, email,
or visit us online:
800.432.5810
info@goBDC.com | www.goBDC.com
markets. “We also just finished a large project in
Saudi Arabia,” says Sales Director, Ian Marsh. “We
cover the entire world,” Jack adds. “We’re fami-
ly-owned, globally-known.”
Peterman believes that Gillespie & Powers laps
its competition in the sector because, unlike his
company, they don’t “get dirty.” “Our competition
will design it, and then hand it over to contractors
to build and assemble, and they may show up
when it’s turned on,” he states. “Everybody here is
hands-on. We’re unique because we have our con-
struction side. We will, design, fabricate, and build.
It never leaves our hands. We take it from day one
and hold it until we hand it over to the customer.”
“We also offer the refractory engineering side
of it,” offers Marsh. “And because we’ve been in
refractory for so long, we talk to the refractory
manufacturers, and what we learn in the field
BDC represents and distributes only the best combustion
equipment and control devices available in the market, but we
are so much more than a place where you get the parts to keep
your plant process equipment running. That’s why we built a
company that is unusually well equipped to provide and support
complete solutions to your plant operation needs, both thermal
and non-thermal in nature.
Our products and services include:
n Burners & Accessories n 24/7/365 hotline
n Process Controls & n Diagnostics
Sensors n Calibration
n Valves & Actuators n Inspections
n Field Input Devices n Emergency Repair
n Flow Meters and n Maintenance/
Accessories Field Service
n Earthquake and n Refurbishing
Vibration Isolation Equipment
Devices n Seismic Restraints
gets passed back to them, so that they improve
their products as we improve ours.”
Going forward, Peterman says this fifth gen-
eration at the helm of Gillespie & Powers is
planning on expanding the company’s products,
offerings, and geographic footprint. “We’re also
planning on expanding into other markets, - steel,
glass, copper,” he reports. “Currently, we deal in
waste incineration, but we want to expand our
services. Right now, we are in a two-hundred-mile
radius of our home office, but we’d like to expand
that further. We also plan on doing several acqui-
sitions of some competitors. And we are always
doing research and development and working on
future patents.”
“Everything we do, we stand behind 100 per-
cent,” Peterman declares in summation. “That also
distinguishes us from our competition. We value
our relationships and our legacy relationships to
the point where we view them as partnerships
and not a vendor/owner relationship. That shows
in our work. So, we’re going to continue to focus
on growing without jeopardizing our quality.”
PREFERRED VENDORS
n United Refractories, Inc.
www.urc4u.com
United Refractories Co. (URC) is a monolithic refractory
supplier specializing in low, ultra-low, cement free and plastic
compositions for aluminum, foundry, cement, steel and incin-
eration applications. URC4U SERVICE:  URC realizes that the
solution to a customer’s “puzzle” is not limited to a refractory
prodct…  but in reality, is a combination of “puzzle pieces
“shaped by four different components: technical services:
drawings, process audits, thermal & freeze plane calcula-
tions, etc.; Customized products: customer centered prod.
dev., installation equipment, parts, etc.; Responsive support:
immediate response, logistics tracking, customized stocks,
etc.; and Trustworthy data: special lab testing, data on “every
batch”, dry-out schedules, COA’s, etc.
The foundation to United’s URC4U SERVICE is understand-
ing a customer’s various needs and supplying both the prod-
ucts and 4U SERVICES to “complete the puzzle “and deliver
the best overall solution. 
n BDC, Inc.
www.gobdc.com
BDC, Inc. distributes industrial combustion and process control
equipment, such as actuators, vibration isolation and seismic
restraints, burners, burner controls, data acquisition, flow meters,
fuel standby systems, gas regulators, heat exchangers, pressure
transmitters and switches, process control, recorders, tempera-
ture transmitters, valves, spark plugs, flame rods, temperature
controls, and flame supervision controls. The company also
provides field services, emergency service, preventative main-
tenance, inspections and testing, instrument calibration, and
efficiency analysis services. BDC, Inc. was formerly known as
Brandwine Equipment Co. and changed its name to BDC, Inc. in
1976. BDC, Inc. was founded in 1946 and is based in St. Louis,
Missouri with an additional office in Kansas City.
n Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C.
www.greensfelder.com
 WWW.GILLESPIEPOWERS.COM

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