GRYB acquires Winkle Industries

Quebec-based GRYB, which has been designing, manufacturing and adapting attachments for heavy machinery since 2007, has acquired 100 percent of Winkle Industries and its subsidiaries ProEn Engineering Solutions and LiftTech Field Services. Based in Alliance, Ohio, Winkle is a leading diversified supplier of engineered mechanical and magnetic material handling equipment and contract manufacturing services.

In addition to gaining a U.S. presence, GRYB says the move helps establish the company as an industry frontrunner with an unmatched materials handling product offering.

“Having a U.S. presence is integral to our strategic growth plan. After much careful research, we chose Winkle because they are the best at what they do,” says Rémi Beaudoin, GRYB CEO. “They are known for their leadership in the industry, their deep expertise, their reputation for safety and quality and well-established distribution network. Because we share a passion for excellence, innovation and growth, we are more formidable together.

“We didn’t just buy a brand, we bought expertise,” Beaudoin says. “We’re looking forward to our public debut at the Associated Equipment Distributors trade show in Chicago next week, a key market for us," he adds. 

This is GRYB’s second acquisition in less than a year. In 2019 the company acquired Ontario-based Bateman Manufacturing, which specializes in grapples and handling attachments. Bringing together these three heavy machinery attachment manufacturers brings many synergies to the mobile crane industry as well as to excavators, construction, demolition, scrap processing, ports, mining and more, GRYB says.

“We are pleased to join the GRYB family and excited to bring our customers additional solutions and capabilities,” says Mark Volansky, director of sales for Winkle. “Many of our customers, both upstream and downstream facilities that support the steel industry, also require GRYB’s products; now we can offer them top-quality OEM (original equipment manufacturer) products at a competitive price.”

In addition to synergistic products, Winkle brings GRYB significant U.S. market share and strategic location, the company says. GRYB also gains 80,000 square feet of production space as well as a 50,000-square-foot warehouse in the U.S., giving it the capacity to handle anticipated growth.

Going forward, ProEn will develop new products for GRYB companies while maintaining its external service offering. LiftTech will provide field service resources to deliver on-site support for GRYB, Bateman and Winkle products.

The purchase of Winkle follows on GRYB’s $6.25 million investment to increase production capacity at its plant in Victoriaville, Quebec.