ACS Group opens tech center in Wisconsin

New Berlin, Wis. — ACS Group is going on the offensive in the competitive market for plastics auxiliary machinery.

The most visible sign — on Nov. 15, the company opened a 12,000-square-foot new technology center in New Berlin, about three blocks down the street from its 186,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing plant.

The opening was timed to coincide with the company's annual national sales meeting.

“It's a place where you can bring your customers and feel proud,” said Paul Grekowicz, vice president of marketing and product development.

Prior to the new center, plastics processors who wanted to visit ACS to test equipment or learn about new products had to visit an area in the back of the manufacturing plant.

Grekowicz said ACS is hiring staff to create products, many of them timed for introduction at NPE 2018.

“We're investing in additional resources to accelerate new product development. We're hiring,” he said. “We have a lot of good things to show, and every few months there is going to be something new. That's the exciting part.”

The tech center project came together quickly. At first, ACS planned to use the leased space for warehousing. Then, about two months ago, officials decided to convert the building into a fancy showroom and technical center, with polished floors, upgraded lighting, and space to show off the company's complete product line.

ACS spent more than $150,000 on the renovation. The company, which has brand names including AEC, Sterling and Cumberland, also invited a primary equipment supplier to the project, so customers can see how ACS equipment works with an operating injection molding machine. There's a 165-ton Venus injection press from Absolute Haitian in the building. At the open house, it was pumping out discs for disc golf.

Grekowicz said ACS plans to add an extrusion line, too.

“Now [we've] actually got a separate facility, laid out very nicely where you can show off a lot more equipment. We can show it interacting with the machine.”

Most of the machines on the tech center floor had “Made in USA” stickers prominently displayed. ACS has manufacturing in China, too — the company started local assembly of products at a 108,000-square-foot plant in Suzhou in early 2006. But company officials emphasized that the Suzhou plant is focused primarily on the massive market in China, and that the New Berlin operation still serves North America.

“We're a fairly integrated operation, down the road [in New Berlin] and in China,” Grekowicz said. ACS employs 259 in New Berlin, and 70 in Suzhou.

Like many Western machinery companies, ACS started in China by selling to existing U.S. customers that were building processing plants there.

“That's continuing to evolve. We've now established a stronger representative network in China, to go beyond the multinationals,” Grekowicz said.

ACS is one of the oldest players in the U.S. auxiliary equipment business — its Sterling unit turned 100 years old this year. Sterling started in the steam business, but moved into temperature controls for plastics in the early days of injection molding. ACS still serves other markets, but plastics account for about 75 percent of its total sales, Grekowicz said.

ACS had a low-key change in ownership recently, but executives said the transition was seamless for customers. St. Louis-based investment firm Harbour Group had owned ACS in 1995 — much longer than private equity-type owners usually keep an investment.

Several years ago members of the Fox family — who own Harbour Group — bought ACS. But ACS is still associated with Harbour Group, and ACS managers still work closely with the investment firm's executive team.

Global competition has come to the North American auxiliary sector in recent years, with new U.S.-based players battling established firms like ACS, plus companies from Europe and Asia fighting for a foothold.

“Competition is good. We embrace the competition. It's going to make us all better,” Grekowicz said. “We decided it's time to stop playing defense. We're playing a little bit of offense.

“What does that mean? It means we're going out, we're going to develop products that make better sense for our customers. We're listening to them. We're doing a lot of great things. We're re-energizing our sales force. I think the most important thing is this [tech center] is a big demonstration of our commitment to the plastics industry overall.”

At the open house, ACS featured new equipment including:

• Adiabatic cooling equipment, developed with an outside vendor at the request of ACS customers. The company says the systems are superior to traditional cooling towers, saving water and energy, and eliminating the potential spread of Legionnaires' disease. ACS's version will meet additional freeze-protection protocol.

• A new series of tangential granulators designed for easy maintenance and with new safety features. The machines will be commercial in the first quarter.

• A new feed-roll for in-line granulation at thermoforming operations.