•  A private investment firm has acquired Walker Stainless Equipment Co., New Lisbon, Wis., to be now known as Walker Engineered Products. David Nick, vice president and general manager, says there won’t be any changes to the organization’s management structure, sales force or meticulous approach to designing and building stainless-steel storage tanks, agitated and mixing vessels and pressure vessels. “What this purchase means is that we have solid financial support behind us,” Nick says. “We view this as an opportunity to reinforce to the industry that we are here to serve our customers and deliver the highest-quality solutions that meet their specific needs.”

•  Biohit Inc., Neptune, N.J., has announced the launch of its micro Web site tailored for all North American markets. It includes technical service, promotions, contact information for repair and calibration services, and a full product listing of Biohit’s liquid handling products and monoclonal antibodies. The new site gives the user immediate access to the Biohit field sales force with an interactive e-mail map and up-to-the-minute introductions to products, promotions and after-care support.

•  Batavia, Ill.-based Portola Packaging Inc. has announced organizational and personnel assignments within the company’s Americas manufacturing operations. These assignments complete the integration of Portola’s equipment and closures divisions within North America and Mexico. The company says the new structure is unique in the industry and pulls closures, bottles, equipment and related services, and expertise into one powerful offering. Tim Tyler, currently general manager of Portola’s Tolleson, Ariz., plant, will serve in the newly created position of director of manufacturing operations in the United States and Mexico; Ken Winger, an 11-year veteran at Portola, will replace Tyler in his general manager responsibilities in Arizona; Kelly Rosvold, director of operations for Canada, has relocated to the company’s Canadian headquarters in Richmond, British Columbia; Tom Blaszkow joins Portola as director of business development equipment and blow molding, a newly created position to optimize the company’s strategic efforts in these two areas; and Joe Benacquista continues as vice president of quality and engineering services.  

•  The new Packaging Systems Optimization™ (PSO) Program from Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific can help companies reduce total packaging costs and achieve greater sustainability with a short lead time. With customers realizing overall packaging cost reductions of generally three percent or more, PSO gives companies a unique advantage in the race to streamline processes and meet sustainability goals of major retailers. The program has identified $40 million in cost savings for customers annually. The PSO™ process includes a Total Cost Analysis (TCA™) tool that quantifies supply chain savings and measures sustainability impacts, including fiber and energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

•  London-based Invensys recently introduced Field Device Manager for Foxboro (www.foxboro.com) I/A Series distributed control systems provides the industry’s first solution that takes advantage of both the latest Enhanced Electronic Device Description Language (Enhanced EDDL) and FDT technologies. This combination provides comprehensive lifecycle support to configure, calibrate, commission, diagnose and optimize the performance of any vendors’ Foundation fieldbus device. Significantly, the I/A Series Field Device Manager enables users to take advantage of any EDDL, Enhanced EDDL or FDT host deliverables supplied by the device vendor.