By Bill Bregar
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: February 19, 2014 3:28 pm ET
Updated: February 19, 2014 3:59 pm ET
Image By: Milacron LLC
Tom Goeke
Milacron LLC has made another acquisition, picking up Kortec Inc., a supplier of coinjection molding technology for making barrier packaging, the machinery maker announced Feb. 19.
The deal makes Milacron a major provider of fully integrated, turnkey co-injection barrier systems.
"The addition of Kortec is a perfect accompaniment to Milacron's acquisition of hot runner manufacturer Mold-Masters in 2013," said Milacron CEO Tom Goeke. "Mold-Masters' existing IRIS barrier technology and Milacron's machinery platform, in partnership with Kortec, will create the widest co-injection solutions capability in the plastics industry. This furthers our vision to focus on giving our customers an unprecedented range of fully integrated solutions."
Terms were not disclosed for the deal, which is expected to close before the end of February. Kortec is in Rowley, Mass.
Kortec was founded by Paul Swenson, who in 1995 left Kona Corp., the hot runner maker he founded, to start Kortec and focus on coinjection molding.
Kortec President and CEO Paul Swenson said Milacron will help the coinjection molding technology company reach a larger, global customer base. "By teaming with Milacron, Kortec will be able to supply a wider variety of solutions, further enhancing our offerings to the market and creating better ways to serve our customers," he said.
Kortec has developed a proprietary process of filling a mold with a melt delivery system that has separate flow channels for the skin, sandwiching a middle barrier layer. Milacron officials said that injection molded barrier packaging has seen significant growth in the past five years replace cans, tin, glass and thermoformed plastics for shelf-stable thin-wall packaging, beverage packaging, pet foods, single serve coffee and medical parts.
According to Milacron, customers will have the flexibility to purchase a fully integrated Kortec system, or choose to add a retrofit coinjection melt distribution and control module to their existing injection molding equipment. Both of these options can transform operations from mono-layer manufacturing processes to complete coinjection molding lines.
Kortec is the second acquisition in recent months for Milacron, owned by private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors LLC, has made several deals in recent months. Milacron announced Feb. 5 that it has purchased Southlake, Texas, manufacturers' representative Industrial Machine Sales Inc. and its sister company, Precise Plastics Machinery Inc.
In late 2013, Milacron bought American Extrusion Services Inc. of Springboro, Ohio. AES provides aftermarket services for extruders, including rebuilding, barrel alignment and feed screw and barrel measuring. | 
