CMS Hartzell Inc. has boosted its engineering design and mold-making capabilities by acquiring Global Tool & Engineering Inc.
Global's operations in Carrollton, Texas, and Oakdale, Minn., fit strategically and geographically with CMS Hartzell sites in Denton, Texas, and St. Paul, Minn., said George Scherff, CMS Hartzell president and chief executive officer.
``This includes project engineering, tooling, program management and sales,'' he said in a news release.
Global helps customers reduce time-to-market requirements.
``Our business expedites projects upfront'' with value-added engineering and prototype or pre-production molds, co-founder Brad Berkley said in a telephone interview. ``Most molders focus on the back side.''
Berkley and Scott Wahl founded Global Tool in 1994. Richmond, Ky.-based CMS Hartzell acquired the interests of Berkley, Wahl and equity investor Agio Capital Partners I LP of Minneapolis on May 4, according to Berkley. Terms were not disclosed.
Global employed 100 and has sales of about $10 million from engineering design, quick-turnaround tooling and short-run injection molding.
CMS Hartzell employs 2,300, most in Kentucky and Minnesota, and has annual sales of more than $250 million in high-volume injection molding and assembly, sheet-metal stamping and fabrication, die casting and electro-mechanical assembly. Plastics molding accounts for about 15 percent of the sales.
Both Texas sites have injection molding capabilities. Denton's high-volume plant uses 25 presses with clamping forces of 25-300 tons in a Class 100,000 clean room, and Carrollton's short-run operation runs five machines of 55-300 tons.
Those numbers reflect the recent move of three Carrollton presses to Denton, said Berkley, who is now a CMS Hartzell vice president with responsibility for the Texas operations.
The Oakdale plant, where Wahl is based, has four injection molding presses of 55-200 tons for development and pre-production work. The firm's Minnesota engineering work is being moved to Oakdale from St. Paul. The St. Paul plant retains extensive die-casting operations.
Other CMS Hartzell plastics molding occurs in Turtle Lake, Wis.; Morgan Hill, Calif.; and Pompano Beach, Fla.
CMS Hartzell formed through the October merger of Continental Metal Specialties Inc. of Richmond and Hartzell Manufacturing Co. Inc. of St. Paul, both majority-owned by Linsalata Capital Partners LP of Mayfield Heights, Ohio.
The manufacturer has other operations in Stanton and West Liberty, Ky.; St. Croix, Wis.; and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.