MN based company acquires KleenTec’s Assets and Product Lines

Albert Lea, MN

The purchase means Fountain Industries will acquire a host of leading brand names in the Parts Washer industry, including SprayMaster.

Under terms of the acquisition, Fountain has acquired KleenTec’s entire client base, enabling the company to provide its existing lines to these customers. Additionally, Fountain intends to drive new innovation and valuable new line extensions that can be offered to each company’s customer base.

"This acquisition catapults us into a clear leadership position in the Aqueous Parts Washer business" said Roger Scherping, president of Fountain. "Over the past year, our industry has seen undeniable evidence that there’s a wave coming that requires clients to move from Solvent based to Aqueous based Parts Washers. We want to get out ahead of the market before this wave turns into a tsunami."

Parts Washers are commonly used in Automotive and Industrial Markets to remove grease, dirt, and debris from machine parts. Employing a basin or tub and containing a built-in pump mechanism, greasy or oily parts are cleaned by circulating cleaning solutions.

Since Aqueous Parts Washers use water-based chemistries, they are significantly less hazardous to operators of the systems. In addition, these Aqueous Parts Washers are considerably more eco-friendly in their disposal of the used material versus Solvent Parts Washers.

Another important aspect of Fountain’s acquisition of KleenTec’s assets and product lines is that Fountain will consolidate its presence in the burgeoning Cabinet Washer business through the SprayMaster

Cabinet-style Parts Washers are used for cleaning large parts or large quantities of heavily soiled parts. Solutions are heated to higher temperatures, and pressurized spray nozzles impact all the part surfaces simultaneously. And because parts are loaded into the cabinet and the wash cycle is coordinated with a timer, the labor associated with cleaning is significantly reduced.

An additional benefit to the acquisition is that Fountain will significantly strengthen its international presence in Europe. This is significant because Aqueous Parts Washers are more favorably embraced in Europe than in America.

"Everyone knows the Parts Washer industry is headed in a direction towards more eco-favorable cleaning solutions" said Paul Kaufer, Vice President of Sales at Fountain. "Over a year ago, we put in place a strategy to leverage this movement towards Aqueous solutions. So this acquisition is a very deliberate step towards bringing this strategy to life."

Most experts agree that the movement towards Aqueous is in its infancy. To Kaufer, that underscores the opportunity. "Sure, the move has just started, but when legislation and regulations accelerate this movement, Fountain will emerge a dominant player, in a far stronger position to serve our customers," Kaufer said.

For over 40 years Fountain Industries has been producing quality parts cleaning equipment and systems. Today, they are the largest manufacturer of private label Parts Washer solutions in the US. Fountain will continue to offer innovative product solutions to the Automotive and Industrial market segments, and as the next step in that strategy, in Q4 of 2009, Fountain will unveil a line of fluid handling equipment.