KraussMaffei AG Nicolas Beyl, president of the Reaction Process Machinery segment of the KraussMaffei Group, and Colin Leek, managing director Pultrex (from left to right) Photo: KraussMaffei

German machinery giant KraussMaffei Group has signed a share purchase agreement with United Kingdom-based Pultrex Ltd., as it firms up its position within the pultrusion market. Financial details about the transaction were not released.

Headquartered in Manningtree, England, Pultrex provides machinery for pultrusion, pullwinding and filament winding systems. The company also manufactures pultrusion profiles at its production factory in Essex.

In a Feb. 25 statement KraussMaffei said it intended to turn the Manningtree location into a competence center for the construction of pullers, filament winding and pullwinding systems.

At the same time, Pultrex expertise and experience will be used in the design of resin-impregnating bath systems for pultrusion.

KraussMaffei entered the pultrusion market in 2017 with the introduction of iPul system.

The acquisition will aim to add to the the German company’s already-established core competences in mixing and metering systems, as well as mold technology, according to Nicolas Beyl, president of the reaction process machinery segment at KraussMaffei Group.

"With the expertise and experience of Pultrex, we are complementing our system competence and now offer the entire value chain from a single supplier,” he added.

The two companies will also aim to promote “standardized pultrusion system construction,” in a bid to offer customers optimum price-performance ratios.

Following the acquisition, profile production in Manningtree will continue on the same scale, to allow KraussMaffei customers to test their prototypes and the respective series production on location.

The metering machines for the iPul systems will be supplied from Munich, while the molds will be supplied from the KraussMaffei location in Harderberg, Germany.

"We are thus concentrating the pultrusion system knowhow specifically at the locations which already have the competence," Beyl said.

Pultrex has more than 600 pultrusion systems installed worldwide. The company has over 40 years of experience in the field of pultrusion, the continuous strand drawing of fiber-reinforced profiles and round rods.

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