Epco Machinery LLC (Booth S1409) has purchased the parts and service assets for Farrel and Lombard injection molding machines.
The Farrel-Lombard Machinery Group was once an operating division of USM Corp., according to Epco. The company stopped building machines in 1984.
At Epco's NPE 2003 booth, the company will show before-and-after examples of a toggle clamp from a 500-ton Farrel-Lombard press.
Epco, which remanufactures plastics processing machinery, bought the parts and service business from W.W. Williams Co. of Columbus, Ohio. The deal was announced June 11, for undisclosed terms. Epco obtains thousands of machinery and component drawings, plus reference information about how to find spare parts from component suppliers.
President Steve Schroeder said Epco has purchased the rights for all Farrel and Lombard injection molding machines, in clamping forces from 225-750 tons.
Epco has already remanufactured and serviced hundreds of Farrel and Lombard machines - a major reason the company wanted to acquire the rights. Many of the presses are still in operation, especially the 500- to 750-ton machines.
Schroeder said the presses were well-built. Despite the age of the machines, there continues to be a demand for a reliable source for parts and service, he said.
``The machines we see are fundamentally sound with potentially long service lives remaining, and typically we do routine maintenance, control and safety upgrades, equipment retrofits and conversions,'' he said.
Brian Conover, parts department manager for Epco, said having the drawings helps.
``This enables us to more quickly respond to parts requests, especially those for the more obscure parts that have become harder to identify and locate with each passing year,'' he said.
Some of the parts have to be custom made - which is difficult when calculating dimensions from worn or damaged parts, he said.
Epco's parts department maintains a $1 million inventory.
