Hunkar buys maker of label equipment
CINCINNATI - Hunkar Laboratories Inc., a Cincinnati maker of process controls and production monitoring systems, has purchased a company that makes equipment for applying pressure-sensitive labels.
The acquisition of the Machinery Application Division of Renaissance Mark Inc., is part of Hunkar Packaging Inc., which is a subsidiary of Hunkar Laboratories. The newly acquired business, which has made equipment for 23 years, will report to John McBride, Hunkar Packaging's vice president and general manager.
Terms were not disclosed.
Eric Thiemann, Hunkar's president and chief executive officer, said the label equipment operation will remain in Arlington, Texas, where it employs 22.
Thiemann said the deal follows the company's strategy to move into capital equipment. In recent years, Hunkar has picked up TriData Technologies, a Cincinnati bar-coding equipment maker and another Cincinnati machinery manufacturer, American Metal Products Inc., which builds custom conveying and materials-handling equipment and industrial ovens.
Facts Inc. adds staff, expands product line
CUYAHOGA FALLS, OHIO - Facts Inc., which makes extrusion control systems, has beefed up its staff as it expands beyond its custom-products base with a new standard line.
Facts makes controllers for plastics and rubber machines, covering extrusion, calendering and mixers. Since its founding in 1992, the company has concentrated on custom systems built from scratch. Facts still does custom work, but has launched into standard, pre-configured control systems that can be retrofitted onto existing extruders.
In mid-2002, the small Cuyahoga Falls company made a splashy hire, as Al Hodge, a 25-year extrusion machinery veteran, signed on as director of sales and marketing. Before joining Facts, Hodge was vice president of sales and engineering for Davis-Standard Corp. in Pawcatuck, Conn.
The company also promoted Michelle Curenton to sales engineer, from senior project engineer.
Other hires include:
* Bob Furlan as sales engineer serving the Southeast. Furlan has more than 15 years of extrusion experience, most recently at Dynisco LLC, where he was territory sales manager.
* Carolyn Reed-Dickson as sales engineer selling to manufacturers of new machinery, used-equipment dealers and remanufacturers. Hired by Facts in January, she has held sales positions with Tarnell LLC, Polysort LLC and Plastics News.
Curenton said Facts' standard products offer centralized control and the ability to create charts that show trends. All but the least-expensive system, called Mini, have full-color graphics showing the entire extruder. That means an operator can go to any point on the line at the same time, on a single touch-screen page, with no need to page through tabular material.
The controller family can run seven to about 27 temperature zones, depending on the model. The controllers can run other machines on a production line, such as a puller or a film haul-off.
The two top-end controllers in the family are the TEC and TEC Plus. TEC stands for total extrusion control.
The company's other units are called the Pro, the Basic and the Mini.
Briefly ...
* Injection press maker BM Biraghi SpA of Monza, Italy, which was purchased by Negri Bossi SpA in 2002, reported increases in its sales, due to new customers. BMB said its sales increased 10.3 percent in 2002. That followed a 14.7 percent jump in 2001. BMB said its claims under warranty fell 10 percent.
* Stretch film equipment supplier Bruckner Maschinenbau GmbH has created a subsidiary called Bruckner ServTec GmbH to handle customer service. ServTec will coordinate spare parts and repairs, service, upgrades, special-purpose lines, training, relocating film lines and trade-ins of used machines. The company is headquartered in Siegsdorf, Germany.
* Eurotherm Gauging Systems Inc. of Billerica, Mass., changed its name effective Jan. 1 to EGS Gauging Inc. The new identity completes the transition to independent operation. On April 1, 2002, Eurotherm Gauging Systems was purchased in a management buyout from Eurotherm International and Invensys Co.
