News / Press

Hi SEAONC friends, Wendy Allen, P.E. here from a company with Bay Area beginnings, Simpson Strong-Tie.  Simpson has been a SEAONC sponsor for several years running and we enjoy the partnership that we have with SEAONC the Association as well as all of you, the members! I was lucky enough to serve on SEAONC’s Board of Directors from 2013-2015 and got to experience SEAONC from the inside.

A little known fact, Simpson Strong-Tie started in California with an Engineering lab and production facility in San Leandro, CA. Now we are a world-wide company with several hundred Engineers in North America alone. Once just a wood connector company I would argue that Simpson is now a ‘Solutions’ company! We offer Engineering solutions ranging from our new Yield Link Brace Connection, to Mass Timber Connections and even a free of charge Composite Strengthening Systems design division consisting of FRP (Fiber Reinforced Polymer) and other strengthening solutions.


Our founder, Barclay Simpson instilled timeless values to our Company and our people. There are 9 Principles in total but my favorites happen to be; ‘Relentless Customer Focus’; ‘Be The Leader’ and my personal favorite ‘Have Fun, Be Humble’. At Simpson, we try to live those values out every day. One relevant example of ‘Relentless Customer Focus’ for you SEAONC Engineers is that we have done full scale testing in order to help Engineers like you find solutions for specific projects! See the picture below highlighting 3-sided FRP column testing completed at our accredited lab in Stockton. This testing helped solve a constructability issue where the EOR and owner determined that they couldn’t access the 4th side of the column to get a fully wrapped FRP solution to strengthen columns. Simpson worked with the EOR to determine the strengthening goals and desired failure modes and then ran a full scale test (free of charge!) to help the Engineer and the owner find a cost effective solution. We even invited the EOR to visit our lab during the testing to see the significant displacement and ductility that was achieved. The 3 sided FRP solution turned out to be exactly what they were looking for and we have been able to use this testing to solve similar constructability issues. Do you have a project we can help with?


Well, perhaps you don’t have a solution that you need tested but you want to learn more about Simpson or you have technical questions. Our customer service team consists of Field Engineers, Branch Engineers Technical Sales Representatives and even a Technical Support team based in Stockton. I mentioned Simpson’s design services for our Composite Strengthening Systems but we also offer the same free of charge service for Simpson’s Moment Frames, Yield Links and ATS (Anchor Tie-Down System). We offer in-person or virtual lunch-and-learns or you can attend one of our Workshops. The CSS Workshop in Oakland with hand-on demos last year was a hit, we plan to have another one in San Francisco in the Fall. Come join us!


Finally, if you don’t have questions but you do have curiosity, did you know that you can visit our Stockton Manufacturing Facility to see steel holdowns and straps being made in giant multi-ton presses and witness the impressive assembly line for Strongwalls?

We would love to hold a plant tour event in Stockton for SEAONC members. Please contact me if you’re interested.

Thank you SEAONC for everything you do for us! We love being your partner in creating ‘Safer Strong Structures’ which is part of Simpson’s mission statement. Thank you for your support!