About RPI

Our History

Royal Purple was founded in 1986 as an industrial lubricants company by John Williams, a pioneer in synthetic lubricant development since the 1950s. Williams believed customers would pay more for superior products that solved real business problems.

He went on to develop an additive technology that outperformed industry standards and competing products. Today, that proprietary technology is known as “Synerlec®” and is used in many of our top-selling industrial lubricants.

To stand apart in the marketplace, Williams made the lubricant purple. He also named the company Royal Purple – drawing on the long-standing association between the color purple and royalty – to reinforce the brand’s leadership in synthetic lubrication.

In April 2025, Lubrication Engineers acquired the industrial segment of the Royal Purple® brand from Calumet, establishing Royal Purple Industrial. As a longtime leader in industrial lubrication, Lubrication Engineers recognized that the Royal Purple brand and product portfolio created an opportunity to deliver additional high-performance solutions to new industries and customers who demand the best.

Today, Royal Purple Industrial continues to lead the way with products designed to meet evolving customer needs, regulatory requirements, and industry trends. While some companies prioritize fuels and other petroleum byproducts, RPI’s sole mission is to develop lubricants that significantly outperform both synthetic and mineral-based alternatives.

Our products are used by organizations such as NASA and the U.S. Navy, and across demanding applications including mining equipment, ships, drilling equipment, wind farms, food processing plants, and more.