K-Tron is a leading global provider of bulk solids material handling equipment and systems for the process, electric utility, pulp and paper, mining and other industries. We serve these markets through two separate business lines, which focus on feeding and pneumatic conveying equipment (our K-Tron Process Group) and size reduction equipment (our Size Reduction Group). 

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The K-Tron Process Group

Our Process Group, which has facilities in the United States, Europe and Asia, produces and sells feeders under the K-Tron Feeders brand, pneumatic conveying and associated equipment under the Premier Pneumatics brand and feeders and ancillary equipment for the plastics compounding and injection molding industries in the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the Wuxi K-Tron Colormax brand. Our Process Group also provides systems engineering, service engineers, parts and training in support of its customers throughout the world.

Equipment produced under our K-Tron Feeders brand controls the flow of materials into a manufacturing process by weight (gravimetric feeding) or volume (volumetric feeding). Products include loss-in-weight feeders, volumetric feeders, weigh belt feeders, mass flowmeters and the innovative Bulk Solids Pump (BSP). We design and produce our own weighing sensor, the Smart Force Transducer (SFT), and the related controls for continuous and batch processes. K-Tron is a global leader in feeders used in the plastics compounding, food, chemical, detergent and pharmaceutical industries.

Premier Pneumatics, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of pneumatic conveying and bulk handling equipment for the North American market. Its core technology is dilute-phase vacuum conveying for large amounts of material at high rates over long distances, such as railcar unloading, transport to storage silos and day-bin transfer. Premier sells components such as blowers and rotary valves, as well as complete material handling systems. Premier is known for its engineered systems for rail car and truck unloading, as well as for its storage-to-production-line transfer systems which are used in the plastics compounding, food and chemical industries. The former K-Tron PCS line of pneumatic conveying equipment and material handling systems is now sold under the Premier brand. This line of products includes standard vacuum conveyors for hard-to-handle materials, an all stainless steel pharmaceutical line of equipment and a variety of ancillary equipment. The former K-Tron Colormax line has also been incorporated into the Premier brand. This line covers pneumatic conveying equipment and material handling systems sold to customers in the plastics extrusion and injection molding industries. Products include self-contained and central vacuum systems, volumetric and gravimetric blenders, material storage bins and feeders for handling various resin materials in the molding or extrusion of consumer plastic products.

Wuxi K-Tron Colormax is the newest member of K-Tron's Process Group. On March 27, 2007, we acquired certain assets of Wuxi Chenghao Machinery Co., Ltd., a privately-owned company in the People's Republic of China. The purchased assets were transferred from the seller to a newly-created Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) established by K-Tron which will conduct business under the name Wuxi K-Tron Colormax Machinery Co., Ltd. Wuxi K-Tron Colormax is located in Luoshe Key Open Industrial Park, Wuxi City, in the Huishan district of Jiangsu province, about 60 miles west of Shanghai. The company's initial focus is on serving the domestic Chinese market, and it designs, manufactures, markets and services volumetric and gravimetric single and twin screw feeders and controls, vibratory trays, pelletizers and pneumatic screen changers for use in plastics compounding and injection molding processes.

The K-Tron Size Reduction Group

Our Size Reduction Group is comprised of our Pennsylvania Crusher Corporation, Gundlach Equipment Corporation, Jeffrey Specialty Equipment Corporation and Rader Companies, Inc. subsidiaries. These companies produce and sell primarily size reduction equipment, such as hammermills, sizers, roll crushers and wood hogs, as well as pneumatic conveying systems and screening equipment. Size reduction equipment is used to resize various materials to a given smaller size, and the principal industries served are the electric utility, mining, pulp and paper, and wood and forest products industries.

Pennsylvania Crusher Corporation manufactures size reduction and related equipment to crush coal before it is used as fuel in the steam furnaces of coal-fired power generation plants, and it also serves other industries such as mining, quarrying and glass making. Penn Crusher is the leader in the U.S. in selling size reduction equipment and replacement parts to electric utility companies. The crushers most commonly sold by Penn Crusher are hammermills, such as granulators and Bradford breakers, and sizers. Crushers and sizers come in a wide variety of sizes and configurations, and each machine is built-to-order to meet the customer’s specifications. Penn Crusher also manufactures and sells a positive displacement action feeder using the same licensed technology that is the basis of the K-Tron Process Group’s Bulk Solids Pump.

Gundlach Equipment Corporation is a leading manufacturer of size reduction equipment for the coal mining industry. Gundlach is best known for its single and two-stage double roll crushers, which crush coal at the mine mouth and the preparation plant. Gundlach roll crushers, cage mills and other equipment also are used to crush coal and other minerals in coal-fired power stations, salt processing plants, fertilizer manufacturing facilities and other industrial applications. 

Jeffrey Specialty Equipment Corporation is a leading producer of wood hogs, chip sizers and other size reduction equipment and related items for use primarily in the pulp and paper and wood and forest products industries. Jeffrey hammermills are also sold to the mining industry to resize chunks of coal, which come directly out of the mine, into smaller pieces.  In addition, Jeffrey sells electromechanical and electromagnetic vibratory feeders that are used primarily in the aggregates, coal, mineral, chemical and other industries to feed bulk solid materials into industrial processes.

Rader Companies, Inc. manufactures pneumatic conveying systems, screening equipment, engineered storage and reclaim systems and truck dumpers for processing bark and wood chips for the pulp and paper and forest products industries. Rader's Razorback™ hammermill is used to size bark and waste wood in wood fiber processing applications. Rader's EDK feeder-delumper is used by the petrochemical industry in manufacturing polypropylene and polyethylene.