ELKHART, IN—Atlas Die LLC acquired Bernal, Inc. of Rochester Hills, MI, on July 3, 2013. Bernal has been a leader in the manufacturing of rotary dies, folding carton systems and die cutting modules for over 40 years. The sale also included Bernal-Yawa, a joint venture in Shanghai, China.
The combination of Atlas Die and Bernal will give customers in the packaging, consumer, and specialty converting industries a complete tooling suite of steel rule, flexible and solid rotary dies as well as system design and integration.
According to Kenneth J. Smott, president and CEO, “The combination of Bernal and Atlas creates converting market opportunities for our customers limited only by imagination. It marries two respected market leaders with the greatest depth of converting knowledge and product breadth.” Marc Voorhees, vice president of sales for Bernal added, “We look forward to working with the Atlas team and combining our strengths in packaging while we jointly develop other market opportunities”.
Bernal will continue to manufacture product and support customers from its Rochester Hills location, as well as Shanghai, China. Smott will be president and CEO of the combined entity. Smott concluded, “Joining Bernal and Atlas Die is an important milestone in the ongoing fulfillment of our strategy to broaden our product portfolio, strengthen our relationships with the leading converters, and deepen our management group. Having strong manufacturing and distribution channels in the U.S. and China, Bernal enhances our technology leadership and extends our global access to key clients and markets.”