Dukane acquires KVT, adds hot gas welding to product portfolio

Plastics welding equipment supplier Dukane (St. Charles, IL) announced today at NPE2018 that it has acquired German plastics bonding equipment provider KVT (Bielefeld). KVT offers a wide variety of bonding technologies, the most important of which is its patented hot gas welding system.

“Industry wants particulate-free assembly technology,” said Dukane CEO and President Mike Johnston during a press conference at booth W3763. “It also wants parts with a nice cosmetic appearance and the ability to join complicated geometries. Hot gas welding delivers on all three requirements,” said Johnston.

There is global demand for hot gas welding, added Johnston, and KVT has been successful in marketing the technology worldwide. In fact, current projections suggest that KVT will double its revenue in 2018, according to Dukane. 

Because it offers a particulate-free process, hot gas welding is especially well suited to the medical manufacturing and automotive sectors, said Johnston. Other benefits of the technology include an absence of oxidation and no stress on the part.

Although hot gas welding has a global market, KVT’s tech support only came out of the German office. With Dukane’s global footprint—it has technical centers and offices in Europe, China, India and Mexico, as well as North America—the company can support the technology worldwide.

The acquisition also strengthens Dukane’s presence in Germany, noted Johnston. Dukane will now utilize KVT’s manufacturing facility to offer its other technologies and true servo-controlled ultrasonic welding system with patented Melt-Match technology to customers in Germany and all over Europe, said the company. Currently there are several quality suppliers of ultrasonic welding technology in Germany; however, none of these suppliers offer true servo-control ultrasonic welding with Melt-Match technology, the most repeatable ultrasonic welding process that delivers the strongest weld quality, said Dukane.