AXYZ Acquires WARDJet
BURLINGTON, Ontario — AXYZ International, a manufacturer of CNC router systems and CNC knife systems, acquired WARDJet, a Tallmadge, Ohio-based waterjet manufacturer last month. No details on the transaction were released.
AXYZ President Alf Zeuner will oversee the combined company as president. WARDJet founder Richard Ward will serve as WARDJet’s president.
WARDJet products will continue to be made in the United States at its Ohio facility and will now be supported by AXYZ’s global network of sales and support offices.
“AXYZ believes in providing localized sales and service support through our own offices,” Zeuner says. “This ensures fast and reliable customer service. We want to bring this same value to WARDJet’s customers.”
Due to innovative and specialized manufacturing capabilities and advancing technology, “people are excited about creating a new future together,” he adds.
Ward says that he is looking forward to the next steps for the business he founded 23 years ago.
“We will have a much larger footprint in the (waterjet)industry overnight,” says Ward, noting that the far-reaching network, as well as a strong chemistry with AXYZ, convinced him this was the best way to grow the company.
“You have to embrace change to be on the right side of history, and this change is a natural one. WARDJet’s vision and our vision could not be more closely aligned,” adds Zeuner.
AXYZ International was founded in 1991 and now has 13 owned-and-operated offices in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, India and Poland, with plans to open additional offices. Like WARDJet, it sells and services directly to end users.
Waterjet technology “is very complimentary to what we are doing,” says Zeuner.
The transaction allows AXYZ to retain “all of the existing infrastructure in both Ohio and Canada because the product lines are so different,” Ward says. With close to 100 WARDJet employees joining the firm, AXYZ International will now employ around 250 people globally.
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