Six years after acquiring Magnet Quebec, fast-growing GRYB has now expanded below the US-Canadian border with its acquisition of Ohio-based Winkle Industries, absorbing an extensive line of industrial magnet products sold worldwide along with added engineering, manufacturing and service capabilities. Shown above is one of Winkle’s powerful lifting magnets for the scrap industry, equipped with its new Bullet cable protector.
“Having a U.S. presence is integral to our strategic growth plan,” said Rémi Beaudoin, GRYB CEO, who also noted the value of Winkle’s well-established distribution network. The deal, concluded in 2020, was GRYB’s second acquisition in less than a year and since has been followed by the acquisition in January 2021 of Two Harbors Machine Shop in Ontario and its line of Serco loaders.
The earlier transaction came in 2019 when it acquired Ontario-based Bateman Manufacturing, which manufactures grapples and handling attachments including some that are also industrial magnetic products. Its Mag-Grabs, for example, are magnet grapples designed to provide handling efficiency with the ferrous metal sorting capabilities of a magnet. Bringing together the three makers of attachments for heavy machinery brings many synergies to the mobile cranes industry as well as excavators, construction, demolition, scrap processing, ports, mining and more, says GRYB.
In addition to synergistic products, Winkle brings GRYB a significant U.S. market share and strategic location, says GRYB, noting that Winkle’s 80,000 sq ft of production space and 50,000 sq ft warehouse provide capacity to handle anticipated growth.
The deal included Winkle subsidiaries PROEN Engineering Solutions and LiftTech Field Services. Going forward, PROEN will use their engineering expertise to develop new products for GRYB companies while maintaining an external service. LiftTech will provide field service resources for GRYB, Bateman and Winkle supplied products. “We didn’t just buy a brand, we bought expertise,” said Beaudoin.
“We are pleased to join the GRYB family and excited to bring our customers additional solutions and capabilities,” said Mark Volansky, Winkle’s director of sales. “Many of our customers, both upstream and downstream facilities that support the steel industry, also require GRYB’s products; now we can offer them top quality OEM products at a competitive price.”
Designed by its engineering team, Winkle’s new Bullet product provides a practical means to protect lifting magnet power cables, mitigating common hazards in the industry. It prevents smashing and exposing of electrical conductors in power cable, which can restrict the performance capabilities and service-life of lifting magnets and components in magnet systems. It is a high-density polymer device that is designed to slide over the power cable and protect magnet leads from abrasions, cuts and heavy impacts that cause electrical interruptions and catastrophic failures.
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Victoriaville, Canada, GRYB manufactures attachments for heavy machinery in numerous industrial markets. For more info, see www.gryb.ca.
