Racine Federated acquires J-Tec vortex flowmeters

Racine Federated has acquired the J-Tec Associates industrial vortex flowmeter product line, at a growth phase in the product life cycle

Racine Federated has acquired the J-Tec Associates industrial vortex flowmeter product line.

The change of ownership was announced on April 21, 2005.

The acquisition of the J-Tec industrial vortex flowmeters by Racine Federated follows a period of consolidation for Racine.

Racine Federated has a combination of different product lines, each under a different company name.

The flow divisions are.

* Hedland: Variable area flowmeters.

* Dynasonics: Ultrasonic flowmeters and insertion magnetic flowmeters.

* Blancett: Turbine flowmeters.

* Preso: Primary element flowmeters.

Racine formerly had a division called FloCat, which sold flowmeters and other products through a catalogue and e-commerce site.

In June 2004, Racine sold its FloCat division to Total Temperature Instrumentation: they are also a distributor for Fuji Electric.

In September 2004, Racine announced that it would be consolidating its operations in Wisconsin.

This included the operations in Texas and New York.

Coincidentally the consolidation will take place in a building formerly occupied by Danfoss.

J-Tec Associates was founded in 1968, with the first flow products involving a measuring technique for ocean currents and an anenometer for the National Data Buoy Program.

These products formed the basis for the J-Tec flow measurement business.

In 1968, J-Tec developed a vortex flowmeter that used ultrasonic sensing of the shedded vortices.

J-Tec will continue to sell its vortex flowmeters to the automotive engine testing and military markets.

Comment.

While J-Tec has met with successes in niche markets, the company has never gained the kind of presence in the industrial market required for substantial growth.

The company never diversified significantly beyond its basic technology.

Besides vortex flowmeters, J-Tec bought into differential pressure technology a few years ago which it has offered as its Flo-Tube product.

The Flo-Tube product has also been sold to Racine Federated.

In addition, J-Tec has previously had a private label agreement with a manufacturer of ultrasonic Doppler meters, but sales of these have now ceased.

It is becoming more difficult for smaller companies with a limited number of technologies to compete in the current marketplace.

Perhaps with the greater resources of Racine Federated, the J-Tec technology will be able to expand and grow at a faster pace.

Now that Racine has gone through its own period of consolidation and contraction, it is ready to increase its presence in the flowmeter marketplace.

Just as is the case with Aalborg, Racine is entering the vortex flowmeter market in a growth period.

The acquisition of the J-Tec industrial vortex flowmeter product line strengthens the Racine presence in new-technology flowmeters, and opens up new markets and applications.

Tom Nelson, Vice President, Marketing, of Racine Federated summarised his view: "Racine Federated has added another key flow measurement technology to our product offerings.

We're very excited about the possibilities this offers our company including greater market coverage and the ability to offer the best technological solution to any flow measurement challenge".

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