Kadant Inc. is a company that was established in 1991 as a partly privately owned subsidiary of
Thermo Electron
Thermo Electron Corporation (NYSE: TMO) (incorporated 1956) was a major provider of analytical instruments and services for a variety of domains. It was founded in 1956 by George N. Hatsopoulos, an MIT PhD in mechanical engineering. Initial fu ...
, and partly publicly traded company, and was fully spun out and renamed Kadant in 2001. The company focuses on
papermaking,
paper recycling, and other processing industries over the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
China, and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
.
Kadant has operations in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
History
The company was established as Thermo Fibrotek in 1991 as a wholly owned subsidiary of
Thermo Electron
Thermo Electron Corporation (NYSE: TMO) (incorporated 1956) was a major provider of analytical instruments and services for a variety of domains. It was founded in 1956 by George N. Hatsopoulos, an MIT PhD in mechanical engineering. Initial fu ...
as part of its parent's strategy to innovate and grow by creating subsidiaries that were privately owned in part, and publicly traded in part.
Its initial focus was paper making and paper recycling equipment.
[
In 1996 the company set up a subsidiary, Thermo Fibergen, which it in turn made partially publicly traded, to focus on technologies to recover products from paper-making waste products; that company in turn acquired Granulation Technology, Inc. and created a division called GranTek that produced granules from sludge that were used, for example, as a carrier for agricultural chemicals and pesticides.][ The original plan was that Fibergen would build its plants adjacent to paper-making plants to process their waste, but this plan failed because it required paper-making plants to commit to long-term contracts to dispose of their waste, which they were unwilling to do.][ The granule business became the focus of Fibergen, helped in part by enzymologist Anatole Klyosov.][
In 1997 the company acquired Black Clawson for $110 million.
In 2001, Thermo Electron fully spun out Thermo Fibrotek, which changed its name to Kadant at the same time; the Fibrogen division was renamed to Kadant Composites at the same time.] The granule business of Kadant Composites took off when the company started using it as a filler in composite plastics products for decking, with sales growing from under $2 million in 2001 to $15 million in 2004.[
In 2013 the company acquired Carmanah Design and Manufacturing Inc. for Canadian dollars (CAD) 54 million in cash, or approximately US$52 million.
]
Products
Kadant engages in mainly four segments: stock preparation systems; fluid handling systems; roll doctoring, cleaning and filtration; and fiber-based granules.
Kadant provides custom-engineered systems (e.g. recycling and approach flow systems) and equipment (e.g. virgin pulping
Pulp is a Lignocellulosic biomass, lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibers from wood, fiber crops, Paper recycling, waste paper, or cotton paper, rags. Mixed with water and other chemica ...
process equipment). The company also provides fluid-handling systems (e.g. rotary joints, syphons, turbulator
A turbulator is a device that turns a laminar boundary layer into a turbulent boundary layer.
Device
Turbulent flow can be desired on parts of the surface of an aircraft wing ( airfoil) or in industrial applications such as heat exchangers and ...
bars, precision unions) widely used in the dryer section of the papermaking process, and the production of corrugated boxboard, metals, plastics, rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...
, textile
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
s, chemicals, and food. In addition, the company offers doctoring systems (e.g. doctor blades), profiling systems, shower and fabric-conditioning, formation, and water filtration systems
Kaden also provides individual components, widely used in pulping, de-inking, screening, cleaning, refining recycled. The company supplies biodegradable absorbent granules from papermaking byproducts for some agriculture uses.
Research and development
Kadant's Research and Development facilities are based in Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and the US, engaging in fiber
Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorpora ...
processing, heat transfer, doctoring, and fluid handling. This facilities are located where customers can test under their own operating conditions. The company also holds seminars and training programs.
References
External links
Official Website
{{Authority control
Manufacturing companies established in 1991
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts
1991 establishments in Massachusetts
Pulp and paper companies of the United States