Since the start of the year, Roehr Tool Solutions Inc. has taken on new owners, a new building, a new line, and is more focused than ever.
“We added the word ‘solutions' to our name just to keep the old [tradition] and target a new direction — that of providing solutions,” said David Helenius, president and CEO of Roehr Tool of Leominster, Mass.
Helenius and Keith Edwards, vice president and chief operating officer, said in a May 17 phone interview that they purchased Roehr at the end of January from Progressive Components International Corp. of Wauconda, Ill., a mold equipment supplier that had owned it since 2006. Details were not disclosed.
Roehr is best known for its collapsible core tooling systems used in caps and closures.
Helenius joined Roehr in 2007 as a senior project engineer and progressed to general manager, while Edwards, who has worked for Husky and Van Dorn, joined the team in 2011 and was operations manager prior to the purchase. They worked together well at Roehr Tool, they said, and decided to pursue joint ownership when the opportunity presented itself.
At the same time they were working to buy Roehr, they also were moving operations from Hudson, Mass., to Leominster. The move was completed before the deal went through.
Helenius said that he, along with a lot of the employees, live in the Leominster area, so the move was welcomed. They now lease a 4,000-square-foot space, smaller than the 12,000-square-foot home that they had in Hudson. However it is closer to its main supplier base.
“We've changed our business market. We focus on engineering and solutions for our customers,” Helenius said.
Roehr has nine employees and plans to add four to five more in the next two to three years.
He they have a good relationship with Progressive.
“We're still in the Progressive catalog and will co-exhibit with them at major trade shows like Amerimold Expo [June 15-16, Novi, Mich.],” Edwards said.