DuBois Chemicals on Friday said it acquired metalworking and industrial fluids manufacturer Perkins Products. Terms were not disclosed.
Perkins Products will continue to operate under its own name, using its existing facility in Bedford, Ill.
DuBois Chemicals CEO Jeff Welsh said Perkins had a long history of innovation and growth, and a very technically advanced product line in the lubricants and metalworking fluids space.
From our perspective, we really saw a company in Perkins that was dedicated to providing exceptional value to their customers, Welsh told Lube Report. There are many common industry segments that we service, with DuBois being stronger in the cleaning and coatings end of it. So we thought there was a great fit for that common customer base to be able to add the products that Perkins excels in.
Welsh confirmed DuBois intends to maintain the Perkins brands such as Perlube lubricants and Perdraw metalworking fluids. We think theyve built up a very strong brand awareness, and very positive reputation in the marketplace, he said. It would be our intent to maintain those brands, and to really use those as our lead brands in those particular markets.
The partnership should bring some opportunities for exchanging technical knowledge. While DuBois is headquartered in Sharonville, Ohio, it has laboratories in Cincinnati. I fully anticipate that we will be able to share technology and hopefully be able to do things together that neither one company could do by themselves, he noted.
Perkins started off as a regional company and branched out in recent years through distribution, according to Welsh. DuBois is national in scope, he pointed out, with representatives in 46 of the 50 states. We probably come from a little bit of a broader background, so theres a great fit for the Perkins products to grow on a national and international scale, he added.
DuBois makes Lubricoolant brand cutting fluids and Polydraw brand pressworking fluids, along with a variety of water soluble cutting and grinding fluids. It also makes both petroleum and synthetic greases and oils.
In addition, DuBois offers products and services in process cleaning and pretreatment, paper chemicals, water treatment, vehicle cleaning and industrial maintenance products, and food cleaning and sanitation.