The company was initially launched in 1979 as “Interstate Laboratory” by the company’s founders, John Wintermute and Josiah Wintermute, and on September 3, 1981 the company was incorporated as Petro-Lubricant Testing Laboratories, Inc.

With prior experience in the areas of high-performance lubricants (oils and greases) testing and specialty pharmaceutical manufacturing, the brothers applied their combined knowledge and abilities to the physical and chemical testing of high-performance specialty lubricants.

Using only their private assets, with no government backed loans or outside investors, the brothers recognized the path to success lay in using their own hard work and skills to build the company from the ground up.