Feed Screws and Barrels

Milacron buys German mold base suppliers, Canadian screw producer

CINCINNATI, OH, April 27 2001 Milacron Inc. announced Thursday the purchase of Progress Precision, Mississauga, ON, a manufacturer of feed screws for injection and blow molding. Pending regulatory approvals, Milacron also plans to acquire within weeks two German suppliers of mold bases and tooling components. Combined sales of the three companies are pegged at $50 million.
"These first-class operations hold great strategic value to Milacron," says president and CEO Ronald Brown. "In Europe we're solidifying and extending [tooling supplier] D-M-E's position and, in North America, we're expanding our screw and barrel services business." The acquisitions are aimed at building sales for products and services that have more predictable and stable business cycles than those of primary processing equipment.
Progress Precision, founded in 1975 as the first Canadian screw and barrel manufacturer, will become one of multiple regional service centers in a new network being established by ExtrusionTek Milacron "to offer quick local response for both OEMs and processors in northeast North America." Progress Precision produces single- and twin-screws and barrels for injection and blow molding and compounding. They can measure up to 25-foot lengths and 15 in diameter.
The German mold component suppliers - EOC Normalien, Lūdenscheid, and Reform Flachstahl, Fulda - have longstanding reputations for product quality and responsive technical support, according to Milacron. EOC Normalien manufactures mold bases, hot-runner systems, temperature controllers, and components like pins and bushings. Reform Flachstahl supplies similar products as well as tools for mold building.
"The acquisitions of EOC Normalien and Reform Flachstahl demonstrate our resolve to extend our leadership position around the world and give us immediate entry into the Euro-Standard mold base market," says Harold Faig, Milacron vp. of plastics technologies. "We're getting two companies with strong brand names, broad European market coverage, and significant technical know-how, along with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities."