Germantown-based
Flip-Key Options, an industrial equipment producer specializing in turnkey automation and robotic options, has acquired
Banner Welder, one other Germantown producer that makes a speciality of automated welding programs. Phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Scott Etzel
The acquisition of Banner Welder expands Flip-Keyâs portfolio of companies to incorporate automated welding. The corporate now provides a fabric dealing with resolution that makes use of robotic welding.
Each firms at the moment are working below the Flip-Key Options title. Scott Etzel is the only proprietor and president of the corporate.
4 years in the past, Etzel purchased out Flip-Keyâs different two house owners. Since then, he mentioned the corporate has doubled its gross sales and accomplished an 11,000-square-foot addition. Flip-Keyâs essential facility is positioned at N117 W19345 Fulton Drive. Banner Welderâs facility is positioned close by at N117 W18200.
âThat addition was sort of my five-year plan. I assumed that will get us by means of the following few years,â mentioned Etzel. âWe have been sort of land-locked on the lot. About 4 months in the past, we began to get bigger firms that we have been coping with. We have been simply operating out of sq. footage.â
He started looking for a brand new constructing, however with out a lot luck. Via phrase of mouth, certainly one of Flip-Keyâs buyers turned conscious of the truth that Banner Welderâs management was trying to promote the corporate.
âThey’ve the sq. footage, they’ve the individuals⌠their buyer base is completely different than mine, so there was no overlap,â mentioned Etzel. âIt was an ideal alternative for us.â
The whole acquisition course of took lower than 45 days, with the deal formally closing on Aug. 3.
Following the acquisition, Flip-Key has grown from 35 staff to 82. Etzel expects the corporateâs complete variety of staff to double by the tip of the yr.
With the acquisition of Banner Welder Flip-Key has additionally tripled its manufacturing house to 90,000 sq. toes. That further sq. footage will probably be instrumental in supporting the agencyâs ongoing progress, and bolstering gross sales on the Banner Welder facet of the enterprise. Etzel defined Banner Welder had been struggling during the last a number of years and seen gross sales âconsiderably lower.â
âThey werenât in the most effective monetary place, and we have been robust with money, so it was an incredible alternative to buy an organization with 75 years of expertise,â he mentioned.
Flip-Key has been capped at round $12 million to $15 million in gross sales every year as a consequence of house constraints. With the added house, Etzel expects the corporate to succeed in $25 million to $30 million in annual gross sales.
âThere was work we needed to primarily cross on as a result of we have been out of house,â he mentioned.
Etzel mentioned he expects to spend money on new manufacturing gear at each amenities within the coming months, however didn’t disclose a greenback quantity.
