March 20, 2024
Kadant acquired Burleson, Texas-based KWS Manufacturing Co., a conveying equipment manufacturer, for approximately $84 million.
KWS manufactures screw conveyors, screw feeders, slide gates, and bucket elevators for process industries, including the food, chemicals, and wood industries. The company will become part of Kadant’s material handling reporting segment.
“We are pleased to welcome our colleagues from KWS to the Kadant family,” said Jeffrey L. Powell, Kadant president and CEO. “Our acquisition of KWS expands our respective product portfolios and enhances our internal capabilities. With our shared focus on bringing highly engineered customer solutions to process industries and our past successes working together, we believe KWS is an excellent fit with Kadant.”
In other Kadant news, the company was named by Newsweek as one of “America’s Most Responsible Companies 2024.”
“It is an honor to once again be named one of America’s Most Responsible Companies,” Powell said. “We are deeply committed to advancing sustainable industrial processing, and it is rewarding to be recognized for our efforts.”
It’s the fourth consecutive year Kadant has been included on the list, which assesses companies on their environmental, social, and governance efforts.
DS Smith was named to global environmental disclosure nonprofit CDP’s “A List” of companies exhibiting leadership in environmental transparency and performance on climate change.
Earned through CDP’s 2023 Climate Change questionnaire, DS Smith is one of a small number of companies that achieved an A rating. CDP evaluated over 21,000 companies evaluated.
“We are pleased to be ‘A Listed’ by CDP—it’s important recognition of all our hard work to tackle climate change in our business,” said Wouter van Tol, DS Smith head of sustainability and community affairs. “None of this would have been possible without our team, and I would like to thank them for their support in making this happen.”
According to a DS Smith news release, inclusion on CDP’s A List is reflective of the company’s commitment to sustainability, specifically its “Now and Next” strategy, which focuses on tackling current and future sustainability challenges.
In other DS Smith news, the company announced a $60.6 million investment in a new fiber preparation line at its Kemsley, U.K., paper mill.
According to a company news release, the multiyear investment “will deliver attractive returns through improved efficiency and reduced costs.”
“Kemsley paper mill is an important part of our business and of the U.K.’s recycling capacity, recycling up to 1 million tonnes of paper and card every year,” said DS Smith Head of Paper and Recycling Niels Flierman. “The installation of the new fiber preparation line will ensure that we can continue to make high performing papers more efficiently while delivering on our medium and long-term sustainability goals.”
