U.S. equipment firm Kingsbury Corp. buys Negri Bossi

Italy-based Sacmi Group has sold its plastics division – including the Negri Bossi injection molding machine brand – to U.S. machinery firm Kingsbury Corporation.

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., Kingsbury makes equipment for the automotive, aerospace, and electronic components industries.

“This sale is in keeping with Sacmi’s desire to streamline management and focus more on the ceramics and packaging sectors,” Sacmi Group general manager Pietro Cassani said in a news release. Cassani will join the Kingsbury-Negri Bossi board of directors.

According to Cassani, his presence on the board “ensures strong ties with the Sacmi Group, which remains the main supplier of high-tonnage presses, built in Imola [Italy]…the Kingsbury Corporation undoubtedly has the skills needed to give this business, currently worth some 100 million Euros, a further boost”.

The new owners “have expressed their intention to maintain the current output facilities, especially in Cologno and at Sacmi Imola, without any personnel cuts,” Cassani continued. “In fact, the emphasis is on growth, which is being driven by the two most promising markets, the USA and the UK”.

Also in the Sacmi plastics division – and included in the sale – is Bi-Power, which specialises in the manufacture of large presses and is a long-standing supplier to some of Europe’s major automobile manufacturers, including Fiat-Chrysler; and Roboline-Sytrama, an Italy-based manufacturer of robotic systems for the plastics industry.

Kingsbury is described as a leader in the design and manufacture of special purpose assembly and test systems; custom rotary dial, inline transfer, and SPM machines; flexible machining centres; and web based (roll to roll) machines. Among its most recent initiatives is a June 2013  agreement with Eastman Kodak Company to produce next-generation touch screen sensors to support the touch sensor module market.