Equipment Report

Accent Wire Tie acquires Cavert Wire Co.

Accent Wire Tie, a Houston-based baling wire and baling tier supplier, has acquired Cavert Wire Co., a North American manufacturer of baling wire. Cavert, founded in 1910, is based in Rural Hall, North Carolina.

“We are delighted to welcome Cavert to the Accent family,” says Bill Sims, president and CEO of Accent Wire Tie. “Cavert has an unmatched legacy of manufacturing quality baling wire and will bring an Accent-operated producing mill into the industry’s largest and most comprehensive supply chain. Cavert’s sales team and production facility are a great addition to Accent.”

According to a news release issued by Accent Wire Tie, the company’s purchase of Cavert forms one of North America’s largest suppliers for baling wire products and bale packaging equipment. The combined market presence enhances Accent’s ability to deliver products, equipment and service to the industry.

“We are excited to join forces with Accent,” says Charles Spittler, president of Cavert Wire Co. “Cavert’s long-term experience supplying the recycling industry and our North Carolina plant are important additions to Accent. We are looking forward to new opportunities and growth for our team.”

Metso Outotec signs agreement to sell its Waste Recycling business

Finnish company Metso Outotec says it has signed an agreement to divest its Waste Recycling business line to Ahlström Capital, a family- owned investment company. The sale to Helsinki-based Ahlström Capital is expected to take place during the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a news release from Metso Outotec.

In October of last year, Metso Outotec announced it would divest its Recycling business, which includes the waste recycling and metal recycling business lines, based on the company’s strategic decision to focus on the aggregates and mining industries.

The value of the transaction will not be disclosed; however, Metso Outotec says the sale will have a minor positive impact on its financial results.

The company says it continues with its plans to divest its Metals Recycling business line.

The Waste Recycling business will operate under the M&J brand, and its headquarters will be in Horsens, Denmark. All 120 employees of the business will transfer to the new company in connection with the close of the transaction.

The business’ net sales in 2020 totaled approximately 50 million euros, or $59 million, according to Metso Outotec.

Metso acquired Horsens- based M&J Industries A/S in 2009 for nearly 16 million euros (nearly $18.9 million in today’s dollars) from Dansk Kapitalanlaeg, making Metso a significant player in the solid waste recycling equipment segment. Metso merged with Outotec, a designer and builder of minerals processing and metals refining systems, in 2020. Metso Outotec continued to release products using the M&J name, having announced the availability of the M&J F320 FineShredder in July. 

“We are very pleased that we have found a new owner for our business, whose strategic thinking and ambitions are so well-aligned with ours,” says Uffe Hansen, who is heading the Waste Recycling business. “As a stand-alone company with a sole focus on waste recycling, we will be more agile and customer-centric in order to further exploit growth opportunities.”

Lasse Heinonen, president and CEO at Ahlström Capital, says, “The Waste Recycling business, M&J, has a proven track record with a strong growth profile in an attractive market. The business is well-positioned to help drive sustainable development with its premium brand offering, robust operations and skilled personnel. I believe that Ahlström Capital as an owner will bring further focus on and resources for growth initiatives and support the standalone business to reach its full potential.”

Ahlström Capital focuses its investment activity on industrial companies, real estate and forests.

American Baler upgrades two-ram baler hydraulics

Bellevue, Ohio-based American Baler Co. says its W721 and W828 two-ram balers now are being manufactured with a power unit and manifold block designed with off-the-shelf Parker Din Cartridge valves on the manifold. Additionally, the two baler models now are being outfitted with standard directional control valves.

All the pumps on the two models now have their own pressure control kit for all three stages of the pump function, American Baler says. Additionally, no unloader blocks are needed, according to the company.

“Warranty claims were higher than desired with our manifold blocks, and our engineering risk evaluation model led us to these cartridge valves,” says Jim Wolfe, vice president of engineering and customer service at American Baler.

Mike Schwinn, American Baler sales manager, says, “The new design is easier to build with fewer errors. This change was implemented in our larger W828 series two years ago and the results have been superb, so improving the W721 was a logical next step.”

The W721 two-ram baler is American Baler’s most popular model, according to the manufacturer. While the W721 is a wide-body machine, the baler is priced similarly to many narrow-body machines and at a “price point that fits many material recovery facility applications as well as at paper, plastic and nonferrous metals plants,” American Baler says.

Amp Robotics expands operations to Europe

Denver-based Amp Robotics Corp., an artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics manufacturer, has announced it is expanding its presence in Europe as demand grows for the company’s AI and automation solutions. Amp has appointed Rep-Tec Advanced Technologies, which is based in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, and specializes in the supply, installation and support of recycling equipment, as an official reseller and integrator for Amp’s customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. 

According to a news release from Amp, it has hired Gary Ashburner as its European general manager to build out the company’s infrastructure across the region. Based in the U.K., Ashburner leads customer and partner acquisition, presales and postsales consulting, system design, supply, installation, training and service for the company.

“We’re seeing greater interest in and adoption of our technology in the U.S., with customers reordering our AI-guided robotic sorting systems to install in other facilities that they own,” Ashburner says. “This is generating a robust pipeline in the U.S. that’s being mirrored internationally, following the installation of our first robotic sorting system in Europe late last year. We share a commitment to improving global resource efficiency and productivity with Rep-Tec and look forward to working with an established leader that also embraces new technology and innovation as we extend our efforts to modernize and expand recycling infrastructure in Europe and globally.”

Amp says its European expansion reflects strong yearly growth and investment in operational scale made possible by its latest funding round of $55 million at the beginning of the year.

The company’s AI platform, Amp Neuron, encompasses the largest known real-world dataset of recyclable materials for machine learning, Amp says. It can classify more than 100 different categories and characteristics of recyclables across single-stream recycling, e-scrap and construction and demolition debris and reach an object recognition run rate of more than 10 billion items annually, according to the company. 

“We’re delighted to partner with Amp Robotics and support the company’s growth across the U.K. and Ireland,” says Colm Grimes, chief executive officer of Rep-Tec. “We recognize the desire to add AI and robotics to Europe’s recycling infrastructure and believe Amp has developed a system that will change the economics of this industry. We’ll be installing our first three Amp Cortex high-speed sorting systems later this summer. This will provide a great U.K. reference site with the ability to run material trials for interested parties.”

To further grow its market penetration in Europe, Amp Robotics says it plans to establish additional reseller partnerships in the countries of Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and France.