PM News: Big Buy

Big Buy. Brinkman International Group, Inc., parent of C.J. Winter Machine Technologies, Inc., has agreed to purchase the assets of Davenport Industries LLC, including all real estate, inventory, machines and intellectual property. Davenport consists of corporate headquarters in Rochester, New York, and locations in Rhode Island; Forth Worth, Texas; and Holsworthy, United Kingdom. Davenport is not closing. The company will focus on keeping the flow of replacement parts uninterrupted.

The Nitty Gritty. Hardinge (Elmira, New York) has released details of the agreement with BPT IP L.L.C. in which it assumes responsibility in North America for the manufacture and distribution of Bridgeport knee mills, as well as parts and support service for knee mills and VMCs previously produced by Bridgeport Machines, Inc. The machines produced at Elmira will carry the Bridgeport name and a “made by Hardinge” label.

More Nitty Gritty. UNOVA Manufacturing Technologies will be the new name of the company formed by the merger between Cincinnati Machine and Lamb Technicon. This new company will be headquartered in the Detroit, Michigan, area. Jim Herrman will be president of the new company. Michael Keane will lead the transition team. The executive team also includes Gerald Budde, Doug Harmon, Dan Janka and Dave Nowicki.

New Name Across The Pond. The membership of the Machine Tool Technologies Association (MTTA) has voted to change its name to The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA). The name change for the organization, based in the United Kingdom, takes place immediately. The new name is said to more accurately reflect the diversity of the current membership and is part of a strategic move to bring the association into line with current trends in the sector. In addition to the name, the company has a new logo and Web site. The new Web site is www.mta.org.uk.

New In Indiana. Index Corporation has opened a new corporate headquarters in order to better serve its customers and be closer to its main customer base. The facility is for sales; machine and parts service; application engineering; and equipment demonstrations. The 60,000-square-foot facility is in the northeast part of Indianapolis. The building was laid out with a customer-oriented approach. An official opening is planed for spring 2003. The company can be reached at (317) 770-6300.

Consulting Services. MTI Systems, Inc. (West Springfield, Massachusetts) recently introduced new consulting services for cost estimating and cost management. The company’s engineers use the Costimator computer aided cost estimating system and communicate with customers via the Internet. The services are said to estimate most manufacturing and fabrication jobs and provide customers with data and reports that can help companies cut costs and run more efficiently. For more information visit www.mtisystems.com.

Special Deal. DP Technology (Camarillo, California) has signed an agreement with Haas Automation Europe under which every Haas milling machine and lathe purchased in Europe will include an offer for Esprit CAM software. DP Technology says the software can enhance productivity, reduce machine off-times and maximize profits by supplementing the Haas package with its adaptive feature recognition and suite of automated machining cycles.

He’s In Charge. Mitutoyo America Corporation (Aurora, Illinois) has a new president, Tsuyoshi Yamamura, who succeeds Noel Ryan. Mr. Yamamura has been with Mitutoyo since 1970. He worked in establishing Mitutoyo Asia Pacific. Prior to this new assignment, Mr.Yamamura was executive vice president of Mitutoyo America. In his new position, he will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the U.S.-based sales and service subsidiary of Mitutoyo.