Welex acquired by Graham Engineering Corporation

August 6, 2012

Graham Engineering Corporation (GEC), York, PA, announced today that it has acquired the assets and assumed certain liabilities of Welex Incorporated (Welex), a leading provider of high performance sheet extrusion solutions. This follows the Graham Group’s acquisition of majority interest in American Kuhne (AK) in October 2012, furthering Graham’s investment in plastic processing technologies. The Welex manufacturing operations are expected to be integrated into GEC’s operations in York. David Schroeder, former President and CEO of Welex, has been appointed as the President of GEC, and Wolfgang Liebertz, current President of GEC, has assumed the role of CEO of the combined GEC/Welex organization.

‘We welcome the addition of the Welex technology and team to the Graham Engineering and American Kuhne complement of leading technologies, people and capabilities, and, look forward to adding further technologies, businesses and talent to our technology platform,’ said founder, Donald Graham. ‘The addition of Welex creates multiple points of synergy for the markets that GEC, AK and Welex serve: for customers worldwide, for supplier partners, and employees of the companies,’ added Kerlin, Chairman of GEC. GEC is gaining a global leader and trusted brand in Welex, as well as an experienced executive in Schroeder, who has significant experience in plastics processing technologies and in conversion businesses.’

Welex is the global standard in high performance sheet extrusion solutions. With over four decades of leadership, innovation and performance, Welex leads the industry with solutions installed in more than 3,000 customer locations in 69 countries. Welex innovations include co-extrusion and multi-layer methods that lead the industry as well as dozens of barrier lines installed globally. GEC is an industry-leading supplier of extrusion blow molding equipment and offers a complete range of monolayer and multilayer blow molding equipment and technology upgrades including: rotary wheel blow molders for bottle sizes from 85 ml up to 5-gallon packaging applications, shuttle machines for up to 10-liter capacity, reciprocating screw and shot pot machinery for lightweight HDPE containers, and single and dual head accumulator head industrial machines for up to 75lb shot capacities.

Located in Ashaway, RI, American Kuhne is a leading global supplier of standard and customized single screw extruders, feed screws, and controls to multiple end-use applications, as well as complete extrusion systems for medical tubing, pipe, and profile. ‘Sales and customer support are unchanged by the acquisition,’ said Kerlin. ‘Welex, AK, and GEC customers will benefit from the coordination of the technologies, expertise, and experience of these industry leaders.’

For more information or to schedule a meeting at K 2013, contact: 

Graham Engineering Corporation,  1203 Eden , York, PA USA 17402, 

phone +1 717-848-3755,  fax +1 717-846-1931,  www.grahamengineering.com,  email sales@grahamengineering.com 

Welex, 1600 Union Meeting , Blue Bell, PA USA 19422, 

phone +1 215-542-8000,  fax +1 215-542-9841,  www.welex.com,  email sales@welex.com 

American Kuhne, 401 Main , Ashaway, RI USA 02804, 

phone +1 401-326-6200,  fax +1 401-326-6201,  www.americankuhne.com,  email sales@americankuhne.com 

Press Contact: Gina Haines, Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer ghaines@grahamengineering.com 

+1 404-386-6830