Kirk & Blum Manufacturing and two other divisions of CECO Environmental Corp. are working together for the first time on a major contract.

        The three companies have a more than $600,000 contract to build a pollution control system for an unidentified textile maker in the Southeastern United States. The joint project underscores the company's vision of becoming a one-stop provider for the pollution control industry, officials said.

        “The combination of expertise, experience and technology needed to create this solution is not available from any other company,” said Richard Blum, president and COO of CECO Environmental.

        Oakley-based Kirk & Blum will provide the ventilation and pollution control system. Another CECO division, Busch Co. in Pittsburgh, will engineer a drip-resistant hooding system to prevent oil contamination, and fiber bed filters will be provided by CECO Filters in Conshohocken,Pa.

        CECO's six divisions also include KBD/Technic, an Oakley firm that does air flow analysis and design. CECO Environmental's bookings through November stand at almost $92 million, up 9.9% from the previous year.

Machine tool orders drop, say trade groups

        Orders for machines that cut and form metal declined 36 percent in October from a year ago, two industry trade groups report.

        Machine tool orders totaled $206.7 million in October down from $324.6 million a year ago and off 22 percent from September's $263.7 million, said AMTDA, American Machine Tool Distributors' Association and AMT — Association for Manufacturing Technology.

        The two trade groups monthly compute machine tool orders from reports submitted by participating manufacturers and distributors.

        For the year, machine tool orders have dropped 31 percent to $2.36 billion. The Northeastern states were the only one of five reporting regions in the survey showing an increase in October from the prior month.

Magazine gives honors to Cintas Web site

        Cintas Corp.'s Web site, www.cintas.com, was ranked first in the professional services category in a survey by BtoB magazine, a publication about marketing and electronic commerce.

        The magazine also ranked the Mason uniform supplier's site in the top 30 out of 300 business-to-business site.

California company to fill Mosler's shoes

        Montech, an Anaheim, Calif.-based financial equipment and security company, has set up an office in Fairfield to fill the gap left by the shutdown of the former Mosler Co.

        The company, started in 1983, specializes in small and medium-size banks and credit unions.

        James Horn, a former Mosler employee, is service manager for the Fairfield office at 6906 Fairfield Business Drive.

Chemical safety group to discuss site security

        Site security will be discussed at the Alliance for Chemical Safety meeting Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Avon Woods Nature Center, 4235 Paddock Road.

        The alliance is composed of citizens, industries and agencies interested in chemical safety. For more information, contact Deb Leonard at 612-3074.

        Contact Mike Boyer at 768-8494; fax 564-6991; or e-mail mboyer@enquirer.com.

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