Acquisitions, Expansions & Partnerships
KHS Group Expands Site in Hamburg
The KHS Group, a manufacturer of filling and packaging systems, has started building a new production shop at its site in Hamburg, Germany. When it is complete, companies KHS Corpoplast GmbH and KHS Plasmax GmbH will gain an extra 26,909 square feet. The new facility concludes the process begun in 2012 to boost production efficiency, when in the first building phase KHS invested in a new commissioning shop. KHS is investing €3.5 million ($3.9 million) in the extension.
NIBCO Expands Valve Offering Through Sure Seal Acquisition
NIBCO INC. has acquired the assets of the Sure Seal product line from OPW Engineered Systems, Inc. The assets related to OPW’s Transportation valve line will remain with OPW. Sure Seal specializes in the design and manufacture of industrial valves and components for any application requiring the safe and efficient processing, movement, control and storage of liquids. Its products include: high performance butterfly valves, lined ball valves, actuators, high-purity butterfly valves, sample valves and sanitary valves.
Applied Material Solutions Acquires Chemical Subsidiaries
Applied Material Solutions has purchased Performance Process Inc. (PPI) in Mundelein, Illinois, and Nottingham Company, PPI’s chemicals division in Atlanta. With its custom formulated defoaming agents and 750,000 gallons of bulk storage, PPI is a distributor for antifoaming and chemical products in the industry. It also provides tolling options for many diverse chemistries and products. Nottingham Company produces treated silica for markets including plastics, paints, inks, adhesives, cosmetics and foods, as well as provides chemical distribution and toll manufacturing and defoamers for various industries and applications.
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Expands its Americas R&D Center
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has increased the size of its Product Testing Laboratory at the HA Traub Technical Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The new 1,000-square-foot addition to the existing facility will accommodate growing requests for product testing and validation – including rotary seals, specialty aerospace sealing and environmental testing. The Product Test Laboratory is part of Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Research and Development Center for the Americas, which also provides materials testing, materials development, product engineering and product development in support of Trelleborg’s continually sealing product line.
DSL MENA Adds New Facility in Middle East
DSL MENA has expanded its operation capability with a new facility in Hamriyah UAE. The new space will support DSL’s growth in the Middle East and enable expansion of products and services for its upstream customers in the region. The facility is equipped with modern office space, fabrication workshop, fabrication/rig up yard space and direct quayside access to the Persian Gulf. DSL will support customers in the MENA region by offering mast & substructure manufacture, derrick manufacture, recertification of drilling structures, API 4G CAT III/IV inspections, drops surveys, offshore trades and rope access. DSL also has a significant engineering resource in this operation to support design requirements for our customers.
Rotork Acquires Bifold Group
Actuator manufacturer and flow control company Rotork has acquired the Bifold Group Ltd. Bifold is a designer and manufacturer of hydraulic and pneumatic stainless-steel directional control valves and accessories for hazardous, corrosive, and subsea environments. Bifold also provides electronic control and positioning systems and offers expertise for valves and pumps used in hazardous upstream and downstream oil and gas applications. The company has special expertise in wellhead control systems. Read more about this news here.
Sasol Selects Emerson to Help Automate Petrochemical Complex
Sasol, an international energy and chemical company, has selected Emerson Process Management to help automate its $8.9 billion petrochemical complex in Lake Charles, Louisiana, designed to take advantage of abundant, low-cost natural gas. The automation project is one of the largest in history awarded to Emerson. When completed sometime in 2018, the petrochemical complex will more than triple Sasol’s chemical production capacity in the United States. The complex includes an ethane cracker that will produce 1.5 million tons of ethylene annually, as well as six chemical manufacturing plants designed to convert the ethylene into a diverse range of chemicals. Read more about this news here.
Appointments
New Managing Director at IMI Bopp & Reuther
Critical flow solutions company IMI Critical Engineering has appointed Jürgen Herzog as managing director of its IMI Bopp & Reuther business. Jürgen began his career as a design engineer with Bopp & Reuther in 1987, and most recently has served as head of sales for control valves and then head of the Power Plant Business Unit. IMI acquired Bopp & Reuther at the start of 2015 as part of the development of its valve offering. The company introduced the first pneumatically operated safety valves in the 1950s.
Cashco Names New Vice President of Operations
Cashco, Inc. recently promoted Darrin Vanderbilt to vice president of operations at its Ellsworth, Kansas, headquarters. Vanderbilt first worked as an intern for Cashco after growing up in nearby Brookville, Kansas, and began serving as an engineering lab manager in 2005. Most recently he was an engineering services manager. Cashco manufactures a line control valves, pressure regulators, tank vents, and flame and detonation arrestors.
Grundfos Appoints VPs for Municipal Water Utility Business
Grundfos has appointed Thomas Morrison as vice president, service, and Rob Montenegro as vice president, municipal sales. Morrison, who joined Grundfos in 2007, will oversee the pump manufacturer’s service group across all business units and sectors, including commissioning, energy analysis/audit, service agreement and part specialists, as well as factory service centers. Montenegro will lead water utility sales, a post previously held by Morrison and that encompasses a broad range of water supply and wastewater applications solutions for municipal markets.
Spirax Sarco Has New U.S. VP of Sales
Spirax Sarco has appointed Shaun Lindley as vice president of sales over U.S. side of the business. Prior to joining Spirax Sarco, Lindley held a number of sales positions in the Newman Hattersley and IMI’s CCI severe service valve manufacturing business. Spirax Sarco serves the steam systems with products and services, coupled with expertise based on over a century of practical application across a variety of industries.
Signicast COO to Retire, Successor Promoted
Signicast Chief Operating Officer Greg Gasper will retire, and Brad Witte has been promoted to the position. Gasper joined Signicast in 1980 and has held a variety of positions throughout the organization. Witte, a graduate of the Milwaukee School of Engineering, joined Signicast in 1992 and most recently served as vice president of facilities. Signicast manufactures investment castings and operates six casting plants at two locations in Southeast Wisconsin
Fred Wiesler Joins QUA as Director of Sales and Marketing
Fred Wiesler is now the director of sales and marketing at QUA, a manufacturer of advanced membrane technologies. Wiesler brings has more than 30 years of experience in the water industry in both engineering and business development. Most recently, he was global director of sales for Membrana, where he managed the sales function in 56 countries, 20 markets and five industry sectors. QUA’s portfolio includes electrodeionization, ceramic and polymeric ultrafiltration, and submerged membranes for wastewater applications.
Borets Appoints New Business Development Manager
Borets has appointed Nicholas P. Boyaci as its business development manager in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Boyaci will be responsible for working directly with clients as well as alongside members of the sales, engineering and marketing team to support company-wide growth opportunities. With more than 25 years of varied industry experience in artificial lift and drilling, he has held positions in Dubai, Singapore, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and the U.S. Borets offers artificial lift engineering, manufacturing, sales and servicing of electric submersible pump systems. Founded in 1897, the company’s key product lines include electric submersible pumps; progressive cavity pumping systems; downhole and surface horizontal pumping systems; and permanent magnetic motors.
MGP Promotes Glaser to Vice President of Production and Engineering
Distiller MGP has promoted Steve Glaser to vice president of production and engineering. Glaser succeeds Randy Schrick, who is retiring Dec. 31, 2015, following 42 years with the company. Glaser has more than 25 years of executive leadership and senior operations experience. He joined MGP as plant manager of the company’s Atchison, Kansas, facility in 2011, and has served as corporate director of operations since 2014. MGP is a supplier of premium distilled spirits and specialty wheat proteins and starches. It is also a top producer of high quality industrial alcohol for use in both food and non-food applications.
Awards, Milestones & Celebrations
Valin Named One of Silicon Valley’s Largest Private Companies; Ranked in Industrial Distribution Big 50 List
Valin Corporation was recognized as one of the Largest Private Companies in Silicon Valley for the fourth straight year by the "Silicon Valley Business Journal." Valin is listed as the 19th largest private company. The privately held, employee-owned company provides technical solutions for the technology, energy, life sciences, natural resources, and transportation industries.
Valin was also ranked 46 on the Industrial Distribution Big 50 List in October. This list recognizes the industrial market’s 50 largest global distributors based on revenue. This is the fourth consecutive year the technical solution provider has been named to this list. For 40 years, Valin has offered personalized order management, on-site field support, comprehensive training, and applied expert engineering services utilizing automation, fluid management, precision measurement, process heating, filtration and fluid power products.
McCrometer Celebrates 60th Anniversary
Flowmeter company McCrometer celebrated its 60th anniversary in Hemet, California, not far from where it began with members of the founding family, hundreds of employees with their families and local dignitaries. Originally a family enterprise, McCrometer was acquired by Danaher, a Fortune 200 Company, but is still headquarters in Hemet. McCrometer flow meters are in service worldwide—and even in outer space. For decades the American farmer has made the McCrometer Mc® Propeller the top selling flow meter in agriculture, while the company’s wireless telemetry systems support agricultural crop and irrigation management.
Thomas A. Edison Awards Recognize Technology Leaders
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) recognized the work of eight leaders who have contributed to making products and electrical systems safer, more energy efficient and more compatible. They are:
- Ralph Wigg, Chair, IEC Technical Committee SC31H
- Margie M. Burk, Assistant Secretary TC 61, TC 72 and TC 108
- Chen Bo, Secretary TC 85
- Cheolung Cha, Secretary TC 47
- Pietro Di Vita, Chair SC 86C
- Tadashi Ezaki, Secretary TC 100
- Jae-Young Lee, Technical Area Manager TC 100 TA 4
- Reinhard Nerke, Secretary SC 3D
The award was created is in the spirit of Thomas Alva Edison, an inventor who developed a system of electric power generation and distribution that was a major development in the modern industrialized world. His more than 1,000 patents included improving the incandescent lamp, film projection and sound recording, which still have an impact on our daily lives.
ASCO Numatics Awards Engineering Scholarships
ASCO Numatics, a manufacturer of fluid automation, flow control and pneumatics solutions, announced the recipients of the 2015 ASCO Numatics Industrial Automation Engineering Scholarship. The two recipients were each awarded a $5,000 scholarship to support their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in engineering. They are Emily Doyon of Biddeford, Maine, a junior in the chemical engineering degree program at the University of Maine; and Brad Harvey of Twinsburg, Ohio, a junior studying for a civil engineering degree at the University of Akron. ASCO Numatics will further support the winners’ studies with an additional $1,000 grant to the engineering departments at each of their universities. For information on the scholarship program, visit www.asconumatics.com/scholarship. Read more about this news here.
Rockwell Automation Recognizes Manufacturing Safety Leaders
Rockwell Automation named four organizations as recipients of its third annual Manufacturing Safety Excellence Awards at the EHS Today Safety Leadership Conference. The company recognized The Clorox Company, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC) for their leadership in applying a holistic approach to safety maturity across their organizations.
