BY MIKE BOYER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Sheffer Corp., a Cincinnati-based maker of hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders, is expanding in the West with the acquisition of Reddick Hydraulic Cylinder Co. in Roseburg, Ore. Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed.
The acquisition gives the unit of the Ralph J. Stolle Co. access to the West Coast hydraulic cylinder market, a $100 million opportunity, Mike Link, director of sales, said.
Sheffer, which employs about 200 at its Cornell Road plant, also has another operation employing 100 in Atlanta.
With the acquisition of Reddick, which employs 25, Sheffer will also expand the operation into a larger 93,000-square-foot center. Retrofitting of the new operation is slated for completion by year-end. Sheffer expects employment at Roseburg to grow to about 90 within a few years.
Founded in 1956, Sheffer produces cylinders used by major forklift truck manufacturers and industrial cylinders used in presses and other machine tools.
The addition of Reddick also gives Sheffer entry into a new market niche for multi-stage, single and double-acting telescopic cylinders and larger bore cylinders, Mr. Link said.
Machine-tool orders dropped 19% in July
Orders for machine tools slipped about 19 percent in July to an estimated $533.16 million from an estimated $655.36 million a year ago, two industry trade groups report.
The July estimates for machines that cut and form metal were also down about 19 percent from the revised June estimate of $655.51 million, the American Machine Tool Distributors Association and AMT -- the Association for Manufacturing Technology reported. For the first seven months of 1998, the trade groups said total estimated orders were $4.6 billion, down 7.7 percent from the year-ago period.
The trade groups said the General Motors Corp. strike, normal summer slowdown and purchasing postponements before the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago this month accounted for the declines.
Machinery export orders were estimated at $19.3 million in July, off slightly more than 50 percent from the $39.3 million in the year-ago month.
EPA risk management subject of seminar
The Alliance for Chemical Safety and the Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Sciences are co-sponsoring a two-day seminar Sept. 28-29 on how to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new risk-management program.
That program will require any business or site that handles, stores or uses any of 140 toxic or flammable chemicals above certain levels to submit a plan to the EPA by next June detailing a "worst-case scenario" chemical accident and how the operation would respond. For more information on the seminar, contact Debi Leonard at 612-3074.
Eagle-Picher unit creates pump group
Eagle-Picher Automotive's Michigan-based Hillsdale Division has created a Powertrain Pump Technologies Group for the design, manufacture and assembly of transmission and engine oil pumps. The group also consists of Eagle-Picher's MARCO division and a supplier, Nichols Portland Co. of Portland, Me.
The Hillsdale Division has produced more than 5 million transmission oil pumps, including more than 1 million annually for the four-speed automatic transmission produced at Ford Motor Co.'s Sharonville plant for its F-series trucks.
"We are one of the few automotive suppliers with the manufacturing expertise, complete testing facilities and full-service support -- including a highly qualified staff -- for these complex products," said Joseph Newby, Hillsdale manufacturing engineering manger who heads the new group.
Local firms lauded by Ohio's BWC
Richard Goettle Inc. of Cincinnati and Baker Construction of Monroe were among 16 Ohio employers recognized this month by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation. The Governor's Excellence in Workers' Compensation Awards were presented Sept. 10 at a luncheon in Columbus.
Knochelman Service teams with Lennox
Knochelmann Service Experts in Covington recently affiliated with Lennox Industries, a manufacture of heating and air conditioning products in Richardson, Texas.
