Medical components supplier Hi-Tech Group is acquiring three manufacturing operations to boost its elastomer and plastics molding and assembly capacity.
Hi-Tech announced in June it plans to acquire Accusil Inc., which specializes in molding silicone parts for medical device assemblies. The deal, expected to close later this summer, includes Accusil's 25,000-square-foot plant in Merrillville, Ind., and about 125 employees.
Bill Depel and Jim Mondschean, who founded Accusil in 1991, will be staying with the operation, said Bill Sherman, Hi-Tech president and chief operating officer.
Anaheim-based Hi-Tech also completed the purchase of two plastic molding and assembly firms in Ventura, Calif.: Ventrex Inc. and Infinity Plastics LLC. Ventrex was a majority shareholder in Infinity prior to the acquisitions, Sherman said.
Ventrex brings a 25,000-square-foot facility and about 60 employees into the Hi-Tech fold, and Infinity has a 15,000-square-foot plant and about 10 employees, Sherman said. As in the Accusil arrangement, Bob Guthrie and John Van Bosch, the presidents of Ventrex and Infinity, respectively, will continue to lead their operations.
Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.
The Accusil deal is a good fit for Hi-Tech because it gives the company some resources it did not have in-house and allows it to take on jobs in areas it had to turn down in the past, according to Sherman. Hi-Tech has done assembly work at its plants but the purchase will open up new opportunities for the company and its customers, he said.
Accusil's operations include liquid silicone injection molding, assembly and fabrication of silicone medical devices, medical-grade tubing extrusions and co-extrusions, and design assistance. The facility is ISO 13485-certified and Food and Drug Administration-registered and includes Class 10,000 clean rooms, the company said.
The plant's Indiana location also is ideal for establishing a presence for customers in the U.S. Midwest and East because Hi-Tech does substantial business in those regions, Sherman said.
He had said in 2005 that the company had targeted the Midwest as a desirable location to make an acquisition and complement existing business. ``We were looking to expand, and it was a logical choice,'' he said.
Down the road, the company plans on adding plastics and high-speed injection molding capabilities at the Merrillville facility, Sherman said. He expects the company will be able to cross-sell some of the products and services from Accusil and the acquired plastics operations with the integration of silicone and plastics materials in many medical devices.
Following the completion of the Accusil purchase, Hi-Tech will operate seven factories and employ about 900. In addition to Accusil, Ventrex and Infinity, the company has its Hi-Tech Rubber facility in Anaheim; A.C. Hoffman Engineering in Riverside, Calif.; Inland Technologies in Fontana, Calif.; and a small leased plant in Creedmoor, N.C.
A large part of Hi-Tech's capacity was added after the Anaheim plant was purchased in March 2004 by private equity firms Red Diamond Capital Inc. and Century Park Capital Partners L.P. Hi-Tech acquired rubber molder A.C. Hoffman in October 2004, and the equity partners bought plastics molder Inland in April 2005.
In addition, Hi-Tech opened a new 55,000-square-foot molding facility in Riverside for A.C. Hoffman in the fall of 2005, including a new technical center and designated areas for assembly and secondary operations.
Business from that plant has doubled in the past two years, and Sherman said the company plans to expand there again in 2009. Hi-Tech expects 15-percent growth per year over the next couple of years in Riverside on the rubber side, he said.
Overall growth in rubber and plastics should be strong, each about 10-12 percent per year, but rubber and silicone still make up about two-thirds of Hi-Tech's revenues, Sherman said.