Orlando, Fla. — Chalk up this NPE2018 story to Hurricane Irma.
Brown Machine Group was all set to introduce its new identity at the Society of Plastics Engineers' annual Thermoforming Conference in September. But when the Category 5 storm forced the cancellation of the Orlando conference, the company did a soft rollout instead, and saved the big reveal for NPE.
The Beaverton, Mich.-based company had been known as Thermoforming Technology Group. Now, the umbrella company is Brown Machine Group, and each of the four brands — Brown Machine, Lyle Industries, Nalle Automation Systems (NAS) and Epco — retains its existing name and logo.
The company introduced the new branding and website at a news conference at NPE2018.
"The new look and feel of the brand elements and website support the company's strategy to build a master brand with a robust portfolio of goods and services," the company announced.
Brown Machine Group is owned by private equity firm Tenex Capital Management.
The company had a 4,200-square-foot display at the show — double the size of its booth at NPE2015. The exhibit included offerings from all the brands, including Brown's new Quad Series Dual-Servo form station and NAS's new HTP-1T Case Packing System that erects and packs in one compact unit.
Brown introduced the first Quad press at NPE2009. The new, speedy dual servo-drive version maintains the original's tonnage but with the ability to exceed 40 cycles per minute for thin-gauge applications.
The company can also retrofit existing stations with the dual servo drive system.