GripAll.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Manufacturing - Company overview

In 1996 Michael Cook woke from a dream, ran to his kitchen, and cut up a soda can to create the first prototype of what would eventually be XtremeGrip, the flagship product of GripAll, a manufacturing company located in Fairbanks, Alaska.

"What we manufacture here is antiskid products," says Dan Cook, Michael Cook's son and GripAll general manager. "The main line, XtremeGrip, is not like anything else out on the market today." The product that emerged from Michael Cook's original dream is a nonslip peel-and-stick mat which can be easily cut down to fit any work space or area. "XtremeGrip consists of rust resistant studs in offset rows embedded in high-friction polyurea," according to GripAll's website.

The polyurea is similar to a Rhino lining, Cook says, and "it gives you a different level of traction than any of the other aggregate products that are out on the market. It interacts with the treads that you have on your shoe to create an interlocking connection so you don't slip and fall."

XtremeGrip was specially designed to have use in any industrial field, but is specifically suited to oil and gas worksites, as "our product can have oil, dirt, snow, ice, and other contaminants on top of it," and still prevent slippage, Cook says.

GripAll also produces LavaGrip, which provides a high-traction surface that is still suitable for kneeling on or walking across with bare feet, a great solution for pools or surfaces with multiple uses. LavaGrip is sold by the roll, and LavaGrip can also be easily cut and customized for any workplace.

Building the Business

But of course, fully functioning manufacturing facilities simply don't pop up overnight, and that certainly wasn't the case for GripAll. Michael Cook passed away suddenly in 2011, before he was able to mass produce his non-slip products; what he could make on his own was sold to the North Slope. "The product was basically hand-made, which really limited who he could actually take it to," Cook says.

After his father's passing, Cook inherited the company. He wanted to increase production. In 2013, he and his good friend Chris Huffman, who has a history of working in the oil and gas fields and is the owner of Black Gold Oil Services, agreed that Huffman would purchase GripAll while Cook would remain with the company as the general manager.

"The first thing that we built when Chris purchased [GripAll] was a fabrication shop [inside the facility built by Michael Cook] ... a spray alley, a...