BLS Enterprises Inc.

The History of BLS Enterprises, Inc.

While visiting a contractor in 1986, Barry L. Stoughton was told that the contractor "needed a good track pad." Stoughton responded, "What is a track pad?" The contractor then explained what a track pad was and the purpose of them. At that point all track pads in the United States were made with rubber bonded to a steel plate. With some prior experience using polyurethane for other products, Stoughton came up with the idea to manufacture track pads with polyurethane, making BLS the first company in the United States to provide contractors with polyurethane track pads. Polyurethane track pads are now the standard for all asphalt milling machine manufacturers.

Polyurethane track pads turned out to be a great success, as polyurethane tends to wear down evenly instead of chunking out like rubber. Thus, TUFPADS® track pads were born and have been proven to last 2 to 4 times longer than rubber track pads. Stoughton's first office was a spare bedroom and first warehouse was his family's garage. BLS's headquarters is now in Itasca, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, with other warehouses in Wisconsin and Kansas. BLS now sells across the entire U.S. and all over the world with dealers in many countries.

Since then, Stoughton and BLS have made great strides in continuing to improve the already successful TUFPADS track pads and expand the products that BLS provides. Along with polyurethane track pads, BLS also provides high quality rubber HQRPADS™ track pads in a variety of sizes and styles. In 2000 BLS became the aftermarket supplier for Bridgestone continuous rubber tracks and began supplying Artliner-BLS bolt-on and clip-on rubber track pads. Due to customer demand in 2003 BLS was the first to develop and make a polyurethane bolt-on track pad that attaches to the steel triple grouser, the BLS Poly Bolt-On® TUFPADS® track pads. These pads were specifically designed for asphalt milling machines and pavers and are now standard on all new Roadtec milling machines. In 2007, after two years of testing, BLS introduced TUFPADS BLUES™ track pads. These blue polyurethane track pads have been lasting 15-30% longer than standard polyurethane.

More than 20 years later, BLS continues to improve upon its products to provide its customers with the best solutions available and offer unmatched service and experience.

Affiliations

BLS Enterprises, Inc. is a member of the following construction industry organizations:
American Rental Association (ARA)
Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association (ARRA)
Associated Equipment Distributors (AED)
Association of Equipment Manufactures (AEM)
Independent Distributors Association (IDA)
National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA)
American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA)