SPY Inspection Equipment is a leading US manufacturer of SPY® brand coating, foil/film and geomembrane inspection equipment, jeep meters (high voltage meters) and pig tracking equipment serving oil and gas, coating, lining/film industries for over 65 years. All SPY® brand products are highly regarded by many in these industries as best in class. Not only do we offer superior manufactured equipment & accessories, but we also offer exceptional customer service and support for our customers.
- SPY® Holiday Detectors & accessories in the field of industrial coating inspection
- SPY® Jeep Meter Equipment
- SPY® High Performance Pig Tracking Equipment
SPY Inspection Equipment was founded by George B Wren in Kansas City, Missouri in 1953. Mr. Wren graduated from the University of Kansas in 1941 as an electrical engineer. He began manufacturing holiday detectors for Standard Pipe Protection Co. of St. Louis (then known as Standard Pipe, Inc.). Standard Pipe salesmen were allowed to sell the detectors as they called on the entire pipeline trade. The detectors gradually became known in the field as “SPI” for short, abbreviating the Standard Pipe name. The equipment began getting a reputation of being superior to competing equipment in the market, at that time, because they were so dependable, reliable and durable that the demand quickly became more than what could be handled as a part-time operation. Standard Pipe Equipment did not want to go into the business of manufacturing holiday detectors and therefore allowed Mr. Wren to go into business for himself manufacturing that equipment. Their only request was to not use the SPI designation that had developed so he changed the product name to “SPY” and had it registered as a trademark.
Our principal product is a holiday detector. A “holiday” is a term used mainly in the oil and gas industry in relation to an anticorrosive surface coating, is defined as: A discontinuity in coating, when a part of the surface remains uncoated. A defect such as an area of insufficient coating film thickness. A pinhole within the coating on any coated surface. After the success of SPY holiday detectors we later added additional products including Jeep Meters (high voltage meters) and Pig Tracking Systems. Pig Transmitters (which is part of a Pig Tracking System) is inserted in or attached to a “Pig” (a device that performs various maintenance operations in oil & gas pipelines, food manufacturing pipelines, water pipelines, ect.. ) as it is being inserted into a pipeline, the Pig Tracking System is then used to track the movement of the pig as well as locating the pig should it become stuck and/or lost in the pipeline.
The SPY® brand has continued to grow since its inception. Due to the large volume of business in the energy sector, the manufacturing facility was moved from its original location in Kansas City, Missouri to its present location in Houston, Texas in 1968. Since then the SPY® brand has become a global brand with distributors located worldwide. Everyone at SPY is dedicated to providing the very best products, service and support for our customers.