Diamond America Corp. and Akron Quality Feedscrews Inc. - two firms that emerged from the closing of the Akron Extruders Inc. plant two years ago - merged Sept. 1 into one company.
The company supplies single-screw extruders, screws and barrels.
The merged company has taken the name of the extruder business, Diamond America, but will retain the screw brand name Akron Quality Feedscrews.
President Thomas Allen called Diamond America ``the oldest new company'' in plastics machinery.
``We have over 275 years of combined experience in extruders, screws and barrels,'' Allen said at Plastics Encounter Indianapolis.
All of the 13 employees used to work at Akron Extruders in Canal Fulton, Ohio. Allen was manufacturing manager when Milacron Inc. bought Akron Extruders and moved it to Batavia, Ohio. Kurt Houk, who started Diamond America to make single-screw extruders, had been engineering director at Akron Extruders.
Allen and Houk located their new companies near each other in Tallmadge, Ohio, and enjoyed a close working relationship.
Diamond America left its 5,000-square-foot building and moved into the Akron Feedscrew factory in early September. To accommodate the machinery operation, Allen said, his plant was expanded by 4,000 square feet, giving it a total of 16,000 square feet.
The two companies promoted their merger with a single booth at Plastics Encounter Indianapolis, Sept. 17-19.
Diamond America makes extruders with screw diameters of three-quarters of an inch to 6 inches.
Allen and Houk, the vice president, announced some product news. Diamond America has started making dies for film and sheet, and pelletizing. The company also launched a new service to refurbish extruders from any manufacturer.
``It just opens up other areas for us,'' Allen said. ``Where in the past our machines have been going into a profile house, now they can go into film, sheet, just about anything.''
Screws and barrels made by the company go into Diamond America extruders. But Allen said the company continues to sell screws and barrels to other machinery manufacturers.