Diemould Service buys Border Steel Limited
Tecumseh-based Diemould Service Company (Canada) Limited (DMS) has announced the acquisition of Border Steel Limited, a Windsor-based manufacturing and service company established in 1962.
Under DMS ownership (dmscomponents.com), both companies will continue to operate as separate entities while collaborating closely to enhance synergies.
“There's a lot of synergies between the companies,” said DMS director of operations Frank Iatonna. “We're strictly a sales company and they (Border Steel) are a manufacturer. We'll use our sales tactics to help expand them into the U.S. market.”
The deal closed March 21 with local entrepreneur Vince Schiller acquiring Border Steel from the Tingle family, which has owned the firm since its founding. A member of the Tingle family will remain as manager at Border Steel.
Currently DMS has 13 employees at its Tecumseh headquarters while Border Steel has 18 workers. DMS also has an operation in Illinois.
“We're looking at improvements for our employees and more jobs,” Iatonna said. “We want to build the company in terms of more sales and the physical size.
“We have enough capacity there (Border Steel) to push a lot more business through too.”
The aim of the merger is to bring together DMS and Border Steel's expertise to offer a range of services to their North American customer base.
DMS licenses the manufacturing and distribution of precision standardized components and ancillary products for use by over 2,000 customers in the injection moulding and die casting industries.
Border Steel Ltd. Specializes in steel flame cutting and is home to Canada's largest Blanchard Grinder. Blanchard grinding, also known as rotary grinding, removes stock from one side of material with a large surface.
Iatonna said the companies share some customers, but there are many that are unique to each.
“We feel the market is due to turn for the better for both metal work and plastics,” said Iatonna of the motivation for the timing of the deal.
“A higher percentage (of the business) is automotive.”
Iatonna said one of the attractions of adding Border Steel to Schiller's collection of companies is its position in the automation sector.
“A lot of (what) Border Steel does is done with the companies that are in automation,” said Iatonna, who added DMS is already freshening up the Border Steel plant.
“We're also getting into that with end-of-the-arm tooling accessories with many of the companies in the group the owner has. With them all contributing end-of-the-arm tooling products there are a lot of synergies there.”
In addition to the automotive sector, Schiller's companies operate in the mining, heavy machine, oil and gas and crane and drag line components sectors.