Machinery maker Milacron LLC has purchased a manufacturers' representative firm in Texas, Industrial Machine Sales Inc., and its sister company, Precise Plastics Machinery Inc., in a deal announced Feb. 5.
Terms were not disclosed.
Industrial Machine Sales is based in Southlake, Texas, and serves that state, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, New Mexico and the northern border of Mexico.
The Southlake facility will become a Milacron High Impact Technical Center (HIT). The Cincinnati-based machinery manufacturer is opening a HIT center in Irvine, Calif., this month. HIT centers will handle customer support, aftermarket parts, training, technical services and retrofit and rebuilding.
Larry Burchett, the president and owner of both Texas firms, said Industrial Machine Sales built the 25,000 square-foot facility about six years ago, designed to offer the HIT-center type of services.
Industrial Machine Sales has represented Milacron's injection molding machines and extruder business, as well as equipment from other companies. Precise Plastics Machinery designs and installs turnkey systems, using the other product lines. PPM also handles used equipment and turnkey support services.
Some of Industrial Machine Sales' other lines are Conair and Colortronic auxiliary equipment, Sepro robots, Republic shreddders, Harvard conveyors and factory automation systems, Syscon-PlantStar production monitoring and reporting systems and Cinpres gas-assisted injection molding equipment.
Burchett said in a Feb. 6 telephone interview that all the product-line partners have agreed to stay with Industrial Machine Sales as their manufacturers' rep. That's important because of the firm's expertise in putting together complete turnkey systems for molders, he said.
“We tremendously value the relationships with our other manufacturers and very much look forward to continuing those ongoing relationships,” Burchett said.
Burchett will serve as vice president of sales and general manager of Milacron's Certified Pre-Owned Machinery division. Burchett, a 37-year plastics industry veteran, has a Milacron connection: He began his career at Milacron right out of college as a sales trainee. He moved up to sales engineer, then got into management, opening a Milacron tech center in Charlotte, NC.
Burchett bought Industrial Machine Sales in 1991, ending his direct employment by Milacron. But that kept him connected to the company through a 20-year association as a sales agent.
Shawn Reilley, Milacron's group vice president of sales and marketing, said the company wants to “offer a clear total lifecycle advantage” to stand out in the competitive global market for plastics machinery.
“As a leading independent representative for over 20 years, Larry and his team have contributed significantly to the overall success of Milacron,” Reilley said. “Now, as a permanent part of our company, we plan to work closely together to improve our customer experience.”
