Orchid Monroe and Carter Motor Company have signed an agreement to join forces. The deal is structured as an acquisition by Orchid of Carter, although practically it is more of a merger of two businesses coming together to provide a full range of solutions for its motor and generator customers. Pictured above are motors in process at Carter Motor Company
Orchid’s President and CEO, Grant Bibby, said of the acquisition, “This is a game changer for both companies. We each specialize in different manufacturing processes for electric machines. Combining the capabilities and resources of both businesses, we now have the capability to engineer and manufacture highly efficient and specialized electric motor and generator products for our customers, including providing full winding and assembly services in addition to the processes we provide today.”
Carter Motor Company was founded in 1932 by pioneer radio and television inventor Alva J. Carter. Among Carter Motor’s early products were the first Dynamotor power supply units for mobile radio use in military, police and emergency applications. Today, Carter manufactures a line of DC motors, universal motors, gearmotors, custom motors, converters and tachometers. Carter currently purchases many of the components used in its electric motors and then incorporates complete winding, assembly and testing processes to manufacture its product line. Going forward many of these components will be manufactured by Orchid, providing the ability for Carter to be more vertically integrated and cost effectively provide highly specialized designs and applications to its customers.
Carter’s Owner and President, Keith Geisler, commented, “I could not be happier with this relationship formed with Orchid. It’s a natural fit. Since we are located only 25 minutes from Orchid, the move from our current facility into the much larger Orchid facility will mean we retain 100% of our highly talented workforce and all the years of experience and manufacturing know-how. Combined with the capabilities and strengths of Orchid, we can now grow Carter to new levels, diversify our product offering, and also work jointly with Orchid providing complete motor assemblies and sub-assemblies for a multitude of industries and markets”.
Orchid International was founded in 1988 by Grant Bibby and has grown over the years to become a major North American supplier of components and assemblies for motors, generators and transformers. Orchid acquired the Monroe facility in 2004 from Philips Electronics and has since consolidated it operations into Monroe. The company has 230,000 sq. ft of manufacturing space located on 32 acres with significant room for expansion. Orchid’s manufacturing begins with master coils of steel and then transforms the steel through a multitude of manufacturing processes, including steel slitting, high speed lamination stamping, annealing, aluminum die casting, robotic welding, and final core assembly. Orchid also designs and manufactures its own precision tooling and automation.
Bibby, summarizes the strategic benefits of combining with Carter: “The addition of Carter takes both the Orchid and Carter businesses to new levels, and opens up tremendous opportunities to provide complete end-to-end solutions for our customers. We feel this is like 1 plus 1 equals 5.”
