QINGDAO, China—Tire equipment manufacturer and software provider Mesnac Co. Ltd. has bought a majority interest in Akron-based Test Measurement Systems, Inc., for an undisclosed sum.
TMSI, founded in 1991, designs and manufactures custom-configured scientific and test engineering systems for the tire and automotive industries.
"Development of the next generation of test and measurement machines will receive a great boost from our acquisition of TMSI, and the contribution from its CEO, Jerry Potts, and his team," Wang Jinjian, Mesnac president, said. "Collaboration between TMSI and Mesnac's global R&D facilities, especially our Asian R&D institute, will greatly enhance our capability to provide global customers with leading-edge technology."
Jerry Potts said, "Mesnac's global marketing and service network will provide TMSI with strong growth prospects, offering the means to bring our customers more value-added solutions and services."
Qingdao, China-based Mesnac said it will retain the TMSI brand and identity, and it said TMSI founder and CEO Gerald Potts and other senior management staff will remain with the business and work with Mesnac to identify opportunities for growth, product innovation and diversification.
Among TMSI's products for the tire industry are endurance testing equipment; tire force and moment testing equipment; high-speed uniformity machines; dynamic slip and camber testing systems; force and moment testing equipment; rolling-resistance, load and deflection measurement equipment; and flat-belt and dynamic footprint machinery.
Mesnac supplies a range of tire manufacturing equipment ranging from raw material mixing to final product testing. It has research institutes in the U.S. and Europe and in Qingdao and Beijing, China, along with sales and service operations in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and greater China.
Potts founded TMSI in 1991 after 20 years in the industry, including work with Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. and MTS Systems Corp. and as an associate professor of mechanical engineering at General Motors Institute (now Kettering University). He started G.R. Potts Associates Inc. in 1983, where he developed tire test system controls and tire rolling resistance test machines and a laboratory high-speed uniformity tire test machine, according to Mesnac.
This is Mesnac's second acquisition of a U.S. tire machinery maker in the past few years. In 2011 it bought Greenburg, Tenn.-based Wyko Tire Technology Inc., a developer and maker of tire-building drums and associated ancillaries.