The parent of twin-screw compounding extruder maker CPM Extrusion Group has purchased Extricom GmbH, a German company that makes a 12-screw extruder known as the RingExtruder.
The RingExtruder was developed to compound high-viscosity materials. Extricom also makes replacement parts for twin-screw extruders.
CPM Holdings Inc. of Waterloo, Iowa, announced it has acquired Extricom, based in Lauffen, Germany.
CPM Holdings' CPM Extrusion Group includes machinery from Century Extrusion in Traverse City, Mich., and Ruiya Extrusion in Nanjing, China. CPM Extrusion Group President Bob Urtel said the purchase of Extricom gives the group a global base of manufacturing, replacement parts and service.
Century Extrusion has a long relationship with Extricom and its exotic RingExtruder technology, which company officials say offers superior mixing and devolatization thanks to its setup of 12 screws rotating arranged in a circle around a fixed core.
Century Extrusion licensed the technology from Extricom, and sold the first 12-extruder in the United States in 2004.
“There are 40 in operation worldwide today,” Urtel said.
CPM Extrusion Group bought Extricom from Michael and Markus Blach, who Urtel said will remain with the company. Terms were not disclosed.
Their father, Josef Blach, founded his machinery company, Blach Verfahrenstechnik GmbH, in 1988. He was fascinated with the possibilities of a tightly intermeshing co-rotating extruder, and created a sister company, 3+Extruder GmbH, to develop the RingExtruder. The two firms merged in 2003.
Michael and Markus Blach took over management of the business in 1991.
On the co-rotating RingExtruder, the material passes through the extruder on a spiral path, through a large number of intermeshing areas between the screws.
“We are committed to delivering process solutions for all sectors working with high-viscosity material, from plastics to powder coating and rubber to food products,” Markus Blach said.
Urtel said the Extricom employs 65 people in Germany. The overall CPM Extrusion Group now has 275 employees — including 90 in Traverse City and 120 in Nanjing.