Olympus Flag & Banner expanding; Racine binding company to close in November; GE to acquire Dresser Waukesha’s parent company for $3 billion
Olympus Flag & Banner expanding
Olympus Flag & Banner, a printer of banners, flags, backdrops and related items, recently broke ground on a 10,000 square foot addition to its facility on Milwaukee’s northwest side. The expanded space, which is expected to be complete by the end of November, will house new printing equipment and staff the company has added throughout this year.
“We have been fortunate to experience significant growth in 2010,” said Brian Adam, owner of the company. “In order to support our customers and allow for future business growth we felt the timing was right to expand our manufacturing facility.”
Racine binding company to close in November
ISP Stitching & Bindery Products, a Racine-based binding firm, has informed the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development that it plans to close its facility at 3911 S. Memorial Drive on Nov. 30.
All of the company’s 35 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the closure.
Harold Whiteside, vice president of business development and marketing with Samuel Strapping Systems, the Ontario, Canada-based corporate parent of ISP Stitching, said the Racine operations are being closed because of the continuing deteriorations of the binding industry in North America.
“This was a tough decision,” he said. “Between the economy as it’s been and the impact of offshore product coming into the U.S., it’s become necessary to close the facility.”
GE to acquire Dresser Waukesha’s parent company for $3 billion
Dresser Inc., the parent company of Dresser Waukesha, has reached an agreement to be acquired by General Electric Co. for $3 billion.
Dallas-based Dresser is majority-owned by funds managed by Riverstone Holdings LLC and First Reserve Corp.
The deal includes all of the Dresser businesses, which provide products and services for compression, flow technology, measurement and distribution infrastructure for customers in more than 150 countries.
Dresser Waukesha manufactures natural gas-powered engines. The Waukesha plant has about 600 employees.
When asked about the GE acquisition’s impact on Dress Waukesha, Dan Nelson, spokesman for Atlanta-based GE Energy, told BizTimes, “Right now it is still too early to tell what will happen, but we value (Dresser’s) expertise and the space and what they bring to the company. They have a strong workforce and a strong reputation in the industry. Right now there are no plans to alter the current operation of the business and we plan to work with the Dresser employees to ensure a smooth transition.”
Dresser president and chief executive officer John Ryan said, "Joining the GE family will enhance our company’s capability to provide best-in-class energy technologies to a much broader segment of the energy sector. Our employees have worked hard to build a world-class reputation and we are confident that our tradition of putting the customer first will continue to be the standard. Today’s announcement marks the beginning of a great opportunity for our customers and employees as we put these two 100+ year old companies together and create new paths for growth and innovation."
