Mesnac buys into U.S. tire test machine maker

AKRON (Aug. 13, 2013) — Chinese machinery maker Mesnac Co. Ltd. has purchased majority ownership of Akron-based Test Measurement Systems Inc. (TMSI), a developer and maker of scientific and test-engineering systems for the tire and automotive industries.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Qingdao, China-based Mesnac said it will retain the TMSI brand and identity and 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.

"Development of the next generation of test and measurement machines will be greatly enhanced by the acquisition of TMSI and the contribution from Dr, Potts and his team," said Mesnac President Wang Jinjian.

"The collaboration between TMSI and Mesnac's global R&D facilities, especially the R&D institute in Asia, will greatly enhance our ability to provide global customers with leading-edge technology."

Mr. Potts suggested "Mesnac's global marketing and service network will provide TMSI with strong growth prospects" which will "bring our customers more value-added solutions and services."

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.

Mr. 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 purchased Greenburg, Tenn.-based Wyko Tire Technology Inc., a developer and maker of tire-building drums and associated ancillaries.