Cadrex buys IDL Precision, plans for further growth

Cadrex Manufacturing Solutions, a portfolio company of private equity firm Core Industrial Partners, has acquired Mukilteo, Wash.-based IDL Precision Machining, a machine shop specializing in metal and plastic parts for the aerospace, laser and technology industries.

The recently relaunched Cadrex platform, which was previously known as CGI Manufacturing Holdings, now includes nine business units with 1.5 million square feet of manufacturing space and more than 2,000 employees across nine states and Mexico.

Founded in 1987, IDL brings the platform computer numerically controlled machining, including horizontal milling, vertical milling and turning, a fleet of more than 50 machines for product development, prototyping and full-scale production.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In the aerospace and defense end markets, IDL serves a variety of subsegments and applications, including electronic warfare, space, commercial avionics, aircraft controls, interiors and in-flight entertainment.

Core partner Matthew Puglisi called IDL "a highly synergistic add-on" to Cadrex.

"In addition to broadening the platform's reach to include new, market-leading customers across numerous segments within the attractive aerospace and defense sector, the acquisition of IDL also provides incremental complex precision machining capabilities and a compelling new geographic location in the Pacific Northwest," Puglisi said in a news release.

In another recent acquisition, in July, Cadrex acquired Tenere Inc., a Dresser, Wis.-based manufacturer of technology infrastructure components like splice boxes and fiber-to-home enclosures.

Founded in 1993, Tenere has four facilities totaling almost 600,000 square feet in Dresser and Osceola, Wis.; Westminster Colo., which is a 130,000-square-foot dedicated plastic operation with 33 injection molding machines ranging from 28-720 tons; and Monterrey, Mexico, which is a sheet metal fabrication facility that soon will offer injection molding,.

Cadrex officials said injection molding and sheet metal fabrication are synergistic capabilities for the company, which offers plastic overmolding onto metal and integrating of metal and plastic components. They plan to install three brand new presses ranging in tonnage from 390-950 in Monterrey by the end of this year.

"Tenere's expansion into Mexico will provide manufacturing for customers with in-region requirements, plastic components required in current sheet metal programs, and overmolded metal and plastic products. The addition will finally combine these capabilities in the same facility, which will be new for Tenere and a rarity in the industry," Cadrex CEO Brian Steel said in an email.

The Cadrex family also includes Advanced Laser, CGI Automated Manufacturing, DFF Corp., Elite Manufacturing Technologies, Haven Manufacturing, Precision Metal Fab and Richlind Metal Fabricators.

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