Coldwater Group Inc, Atlanta, Ga., USA, has acquired BladePro of Rock Hill, S.C. Coldwater will continue to operate the Rock Hill facility and all employees are being retained.
 

BladePro is a manufacturer of doctor blades for the paper industry. BladePro President Joe Christopher has joined Coldwater as manager of all doctor blade business from Coldwater's U.S. operations.

 "We are very pleased to have Joe and BladePro join Coldwater. Joe's customer oriented service philosophy fits very well with our culture. This acquisition builds on our R&E Kirwin Ltd. acquisition last year in the U.K., as we continue to build the most reliable one-stop source for paper machine consumables to the global paper industry," said David Withers, president of Coldwater Group.

"Coldwater is a good fit for us. We operate very similar service driven manufacturing businesses with the flexibility to meet our customer's needs. We plan to keep doing what we've been doing, but now have more resources to expand our business," Christopher added.

In the photo are Joe Christopher, president of BladePro (left), and David Withers, president of Coldwater.