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Kurz-Kasch acquisition means jobs
Auto parts supplier to acquire assets of MacLean Molded Components, add jobs at Wilmington plant.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
MORAINE — After more than 90 years in business, Kurz-Kasch Inc. is alive and well, its chief executive declared Wednesday.
The company that invented the plastics injection molding machine announced its acquisition of the assets of MacLean Molded Components from MacLean Vehicle Systems.
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The acquisition means greater employment at Kurz-Kasch's Wilmington manufacturing facility, where Kurz-Kasch will make transmission parts for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, said George Kochanowski, CEO of Kurz-Kasch.
How many more employees will be added to the company's current 150 Wilmington employees, Kochanowski wasn't willing to immediately say.
But Kochanowski said the additional employment will be added across all three shifts at the plant. And he called the acquisition "the first good step towards more growth."
"We're earning our stripes (in Wilmington) for these very, very critical parts," Kochanowski said.
The company has about 15 employees at its Moraine headquarters as well as about 10 employees at the National Composite Center in Kettering. The Wilmington plant has made parts for electrical power distribution.
Kurz-Kasch, founded in Dayton in 1916, designs and makes electromagnetic parts for heavy-duty diesel engines and engineered composite components for aerospace and other industries. The company was acquired by Monomoy Capital Partners, a $280 million private equity fund, in February 2007.
MacLean Molded makes engineered thermoset and thermoplastic components for use in cars and light trucks. "MacLean Molded's thermoset products and production contracts are important additions to our growing engineering and manufacturing expertise," Kochanowski said.
Kurz-Kasch has six manufacturing and research facilities in Wilmington and Newcomerstown, Ohio; Indiana; Virginia; Brazil; and a sales office in Shanghai, China.
The acquired assets will be moved to Kurz-Kasch's leased, 99,000-square-foot plant in Wilmington starting Friday, the company said.
Kurz-Kasch was one of the first "handful" of companies created in the aftermath of the invention of Bakelite, a type of plastic, 100 years ago, Kochanowski said. Its founders — C. A. Kurz Jr. and H. J. Kasch Sr. — worked with inventor Thomas Edison.
