Private equity-backed Beacon Manufacturing Group has acquired another injection molding company, Acromatic Plastics of Leominster, Mass.
The deal gives Alexandria, Minn.-based Beacon a 110,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, where Beacon plans to add clean room and liquid silicone rubber molding capabilities.
"It's good for us, it's good for our customers, it's good for them, and it's good for the regional plastics base in central Massachusetts," Beacon CEO Robert May said in a recent interview with Plastics News. "It's one of those really good stories that's a win for everyone."
Michael McGee, president of Beacon MedTech Solutions, said Beacon is making significant investments for new clean rooms in Leominster.
"It's going to be a vertical. It allows us to do everything from initial product ideation to design to engineering services. We're going to be vertically integrated into tool design and build and validation," McGee said.
"We're going to have a core competency with significant expansion for precision LSR, specifically with quick-turn prototyping. Then there's the core injection molding and secondary operations," he said.
Beacon is backed by investment firms Akoya Capital LLC and Trinity Private Equity Group. Beacon made its first plastics acquisition in July 2020, purchasing Alexandria, Minn.-based Donnelly Custom Manufacturing Co.
In December 2020, Beacon added Lancaster, Mass.-based Built-Rite Tool & Die Inc. That deal included Built-Rite subsidiaries Reliance Engineering and LSR Engineering.
The addition of Acromatic is the latest step in Beacon's strategy to become a North American injection molding platform.
Starting in July, Beacon began operating as two companies: Beacon MedTech Solutions, which serves the medical, bio-pharma and life sciences markets; and Beacon Engineered Solutions, which serves the industrial, electrical and aerospace/defense markets.
Acromatic Plastics is now Beacon Engineered Solutions. Plastics News estimates that company's sales at $10 million. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
May said prior to the Acromatic acquisition, Beacon had 200 employees. The company ranked No. 122 in Plastics News' most recent survey of North American injection molders, with three plants and sales of $64 million.
McGee said Beacon has a strong position in low volume LSR molding, with the ability to deliver parts within four to six weeks.
"We see that as a pretty good opportunity to grow into," McGee said. "We look for technically challenging parts, customers who want to basically have the engineering services, the materials knowledge, the tooling expertise and on-time delivery."
Beacon also has a mature high-volume kitting and assembly business that focuses on the bio-pharma and life sciences market, primarily focused on single-use products. Typical molded components are used in bioreactors used to make pharmaceutical and other drugs, where they are replacing stainless steel products, May said.
"Our strategy is really very well defined in terms of swim lanes that we want to occupy and where we think we can add value," May said.
Beacon has also entered into a partnership agreement with Sumitomo Demag to purchase several injection molding machines, with the first two expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021.