Company Briefs (November 01, 2001)

The Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA) 2001-2002 international officers, elected at the association’s annual meeting earlier this year, include Michael J. Stewart of Stewart’s Electric Motor Works in Orlando, Fla., chairman of the board. Vice-chairman is Woodrow S. McClure, Jr., Dixie Electric Motor Service, Charlotte, N.C. Secretary/Treasurer is Les Parsons, Arlington P/L in Inverell, New South Wales, Australia. Serving with the new officers on the executive board are Bill Nielsen of Flanders Electric Motor Service of Illinois, Marion, Ill., and Brian Gibbon of Dowding & Mills, Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Technicor of Orangeville, Ont., a plastics and bearing manufacturer and distributor, has completed the ISO 9001:2000 registration process. This is another step in the company’s commitment to serve its customers better, and to ensure continuing improvement in the quality of all aspects of its business, says president Keith Oussoren. The company supplies thermoplastic conveyor wheels and is a distributor for KMS Bearings Inc. Technicor can be reached by calling 519-941-6120.

Kaufman Holdings, headquartered in Fords, N.J., has acquired the Atofina Canada lubricants division. This division will operate as Anderol Canada, manufacturing products at its Oakville, Ont., plant, under a long-term agreement with Atofina Canada. The sale of the lubricants division, which is in keeping with Atofina’s plan to divest non-core businesses, will enable the company to focus on its $100 million intermediate chemicals and performance polymers business.

Lawrcon Electric and Machining Corporation of Pickering, Ont., has been appointed the exclusive Canadian distributor for Cryogen C02 dry ice cleaning machines. Lawrcon cleans electric motors, DC generators, fans, conveyors, ovens, walls and ceilings, printing presses, pipes, power transmissions and HVAC and production equipment.

In addition, Lawrcon has announced that it is a distributor for the US Electric Motors division of Emerson Electric. Included in this agreement is the Leroy Somers line of electric power generators.

Also, the company is an authorized warranty service shop for US Electric Motors, specializing in vertical pump and DC motor repairs. Further information is available by calling 905-686-4661 or visiting the web site at www.lawrcon.com.

Dyna Electric Motors, located in Brampton, Ont., has announced the introduction of Rowan Electtronica’s line of motors, drives and automation accessories. Rowan is a European supplier of automation solutions.

Amherst, N.Y.-based Columbus McKinnon Corp. plans to close its Lister Bolt & Chain manufacturing facility in Richmond, B.C. The material handling products maker expects a pretax gain of US$1 million from the property and asset sale. Also, Columbus McKinnon is consolidating its hoist manufacturing operations from its Cobourg, Ont., plant to its Damascus, Va., hoist plant.

The industrial Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) program from Rockwell Automation of Greenville, S.C., which includes TCO Appraisal and TCO Toolbox software, produces a visual record showing customers how to lower lifetime product, systems and services expenses by providing measurable and actionable cost information. During initial testing, the company identified US$1.4 million in customer savings at over 30 customer locations.

In developing the TCO Appraisal process, the company combined and built upon the solid fundamentals of Activity Based Costing and Total Cost of Ownership models. By coupling this strategy with the extensive plant floor knowledge gained from more than 100 years designing and manufacturing Dodge and Reliance Electric brand products, Rockwell Automation has created an easy-to-use software package for its sales force and customers.

The TCO Toolbox software is a key element of the appraisal process, using detailed information about the elements and costs that make up specific plant processes. The software generates flow charts that demonstrate the inter-relationship of each step. Additional charts depict the cost impact of each step and the amount by which an optimized solution will reduce the cost of each step. Details about the company’s products and system service solutions can be found at www.tcotoolbox.com.

In order to more accurately portray the company’s product line, Provincial Partitions has changed its name to PPI Modular Structures. No longer just an interior wall partition company, according to president Todd Frankland, it manufactures a range of modular structures that includes demountable office partitions, modular in-plant offices, interior/exterior pre-fabricated buildings, mezzanine structures and storage platforms, clean rooms and storage buildings.

Export, Pa.-based Versa-Matic has been acquired by Idex. Versa-Matic manufactures and distributes air-operated double diaphragm pumps and pump replacement parts to the food processing, paint manufacturing, water treatment, pulp and paper, printing and pharmaceutical markets. Idex, located in Northbrook, Ill., is a manufacturer of proprietary pump products, flow meters, dispensing equipment and other engineered products that are sold to a wide range of industries throughout the world. For more information, contact the Canadian distributor, York Fluid Controls, at 905-454-4013, e-mail sales@yorkfluid.com.

Osborn International of Cleveland, Ohio, has appointed Vageesh Bakhshi as product manager for its North American business. Bakhshi will be responsible for developing marketing plans to support and grow the company’s brush product lines. The company has manufacturing facilities in 13 countries. For more information, call 216-361-1900 or visit the web site at www.osborn.com.

Filtrec has expanded its plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., doubling production capacity and increasing warehousing space. New equipment includes a high-speed laser engraving marking system which allows custom branding of individual customers’ part numbers, logos or bar coding on endcaps. For more information, call 705-256-6622 or e-mail filtrec@ican.net.

Indus International Canada, a global provider of enterprise asset management (EAM) systems, has opened a Montreal office. The company’s increased presence in Quebec will provide resources in both French and English. Further information is available by calling 450-677-8867.

Following the purchase of Moore Process Automation’s operations in Canada last year, Siemens Canada of Mississauga, Ont., has changed the name to Siemens Moore Process Automation (Canada), a division of Siemens Canada. Moore provides solutions for process measurement and control applications. Further information is available from the Siemens Industry and Construction Group at 905-819-5926.

Daniel R. Perry is now president and CEO of Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. He has 28 years of service with the company in sales and marketing.

Alpha Controls and Instrumentation of Markham, Ont., has been named the Ontario distributor for Sponsler’s precision turbine flowmeters. From offices in Toronto and Montreal, the company also represents 18 other manufacturers of process controls and instruments. The company’s web site is at www.alphacontrols.com.

Ingersoll-Rand has acquired London Compressed Air Technologies, a distributor of its products for over 25 years. The company joined the Ingersoll-Rand Group of Air Centers as the London Air Center. For more information, call 519-681-9900.

Bosch Automation Technology, based in Racine, Wisc., has been awarded two U.S. patents entitled “Pressure Proportioning Regulator Valve and Vane Machine Including the Same” and “Vane Machine Having a Controll
ed Pressure Acting on the Vane Ends.” They are for a new high-pressure, 210-bar (3,045-psi) Whisper Pump, the first pressure-compensated, variable-volume vane pump to operate at 3,000 psi continuous pressure. The inherent design of vane pumps favours lower noise levels when compared to other types of hydraulic pumps. As a result, company engineers took on the task of combining higher-pressure capability with reduced noise characteristics. This ultimately led to the inventions. For more information call 262-554-7100.

Indexable Cutting Tools of Canada Ltd., Welland, Ont., last year acquired Edmonton-based MicroWear Inc., a manufacturer of structural ceramic components, making Indexable the first Canadian-owned, totally integrated tooling company.