West System

"Gougeon Brothers, Inc. the company that manufactures West System® Epoxy, is an employee-owned, family-run company located in Bay City, Michigan. Gougeon Brothers, Inc. is ISO 9001:2015 registered. Brothers Meade and Jan Gougeon opened shop at this location in 1969, building iceboats and light, fast sailboats with wood and their proprietary epoxy formula. By 1971, they were selling West System Epoxy to other boat builders and individuals who wanted to construct or repair their own boats with it. Since epoxy was new in the boating world, the Gougeons found themselves dispensing a lot of how-to advice right along with their cans of epoxy resin and hardeners. With a bit of refining, that’s pretty much what we’re still doing nearly five decades later. Although West System products are now distributed worldwide and sold through full-service retailers, we continue to stay in close contact with our customers. Much of the extensive epoxy research and development in the Gougeon test lab is driven by the needs of our West System customers. Our full-time technical staff fields thousands of inquiries annually."