HONEY BROOK — 2023 was an active year of growth for R-V industries Inc., a Chester County-based industrial engineering and manufacturing company.
In keeping with its strategy of “growth through acquisition,” the company completed two acquisitions during 2023.
Founded in 1974, R-V Industries is a fourth-generation, family-owned and operated company. Through the years it has grown into a diverse manufacturing company with locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois, offering industrial design and manufacturing services to the chemical, aerosol packaging, food and beverage, life science, nuclear, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, and power generation industries.
R-V Industries is led by President and CEO Kirk Putt, the third generation leadership of the company, which grew out of his grandfather’s company — Putt Welding.
While he has held various jobs in the company since he was a teenager, Putt has worked full-time since 1995, and has been managing the business since 2004.
Growth Through Acquisition
Asked in a recent interview with MediaNews Group what is driving the strategic growth of the company, Putt said there was a feeling the company needed to grow.
“If you really drill it down to one word, I would say we’re opportunistic. When we see good fits and opportunities arise — whether three acquisitions in two years or one every five years — if it’s the right fit and in a market we see we might be looking to or seeing future growth in, we might look to do that,” he said.
Putt said some of R-V’s more traditional markets might contract at different times and for different reasons, so the company looks for ways it can grow to replace some things that might be contracting.
He said that in a downturn, “people may get less or more expensive brands, but they’re still going to need medications, still going to eat.”
One example where R-V Technologies saw some contraction was in the power industry and servicing the fossil fuel power industry — impacted by regulations, environment standards and customers searching for clean energy, according to Putt.
While that was happening, R-V acquired Genesis Packaging in 2017, then based in Exton. Genesis specializes in packaging vials. More specifically, according to Putt, packaging vials for vaccinations.
“That group was integral in working with Pfizer, Moderna and all the names you know for vaccine manufacturing. That helped grow that business.”
Putt said growth and contraction happens at different times and for different reasons.
“We’re constantly trying to look out years ahead, to see where the markets are going and try to stay ahead of that,” he added.
The goal from each downturn or challenge, he said, is to learn something, to help the company do better the next time.
“There will always be a next time.”
Strategy for Acquisition
Putt said some of the company’s acquisitions have resulted from relationships he has with other businesses, conversations that evolve into the other company talking about R-V acquiring them, cold calling and being approached by people actively marketing businesses for sale.
The biggest, he said, is talking with and working with businesses and being involved with different groups, “where you network and more importantly get a reputation out there where people trust your business, and trust you.”
When it comes to looking for a company to acquire, Putt said the process starts at a high level — like specific markets the company is interested in for future growth.
He added that R-V looks at the industry and profitability of the potential acquisition and does an evaluation of the culture and products.
Putt and R-V Industries’ executive management team: Marlene Hawes, vice president of finance; Kevin Putt, vice president of sales; and Ken Brownlow, vice president of operations, are part of the strategic growth discussions as well as the evaluation and integration. As the process evolves, managers in other departments — such as HR and accounting become directly involved.
Putt said R-V looks for companies with annual sales in the range of $10 million to as much as $100 million, and a company with about 30 employees, is a “very nice manageable size group to integrate and manage.”
In the last six years, R-V Industries has acquired four companies:
• R.W. Hartnett, a source for pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and confectionary printing, laser writing/drilling and vision inspection equipment based in northeast Philadelphia, acquired in September 2023.
• Ackley Machine Corp., a provider of pharmaceutical and confectionary printing, laser writing/drilling and vision inspection equipment based in Moorestown, N.J., acquired in June 2023.
• MBC Aerosol, a source for aerosol processing and packaging equipment and services based in Elgin, Ill., acquired in March 2022
• Genesis Packaging Technologies, which was based in Exton, which designs, develops and builds vial cappers that meet the technical challenges of parenteral pharmaceutical packaging, acquired in December 2017.
“We are very active in looking to continue to grow,” Putt said, adding that the pace of the last few years was rapid, but the timing was right, and the companies were good fits.
In addition to considering different end markets and people, Putt said the company looks to expand geographically.
“Ackley Machine and R.W. Hartnett generate over 50% of their annual revenue internationally,” Putt said. “This provides a platform for our other divisions to expand sales into these countries. We now sell equipment to every continent except Antarctica.”
MERGING CULTURES
As R-V Industries grows, it retains each company’s management and employees, and the companies continue to operate under their original names.
Making the transition requires a commitment to communication and transparency, according to Putt, who said the company prides itself on its relationships with its 350 employees. Putt said he and the executive management team take that approach to each company being acquired.
“We will be there on day one, talk to every employee, to make a commitment to them about where they stand with their job, because their first question is ‘will I have a job,’” he said, adding that they assure employees they are going to keep their jobs.
“The biggest thing is, we reinforce that there was something very right about their company and their products that made us want to acquire them.”
He said they take the time to learn and listen, “as opposed to coming and professing to be experts in what they’ve done.”
Putt added the company also ensures it retains individual characteristics at each company.
“Things that are unique at each business, we want to leave there, to make them a thriving small businesses within us — not just a big corporate identity where everyone looks exactly like us,” he said.
Looking to the Future
Putt said things have been going well with the addition of each new company.
“We have been highly successful with these groups we have brought in. They have become key contributors very quickly into our business,” he added.
While Putt couldn’t share specifics about future acquisitions, he said there are active discussions, though none are “imminent.”
“Over the next few years, I expect we will continue to grow through acquisition,” he said.
Source: Berkshire mont
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