Flexicon Corp., a privately held firm and provider of bulk handling equipment and systems, is commemorating its 50th anniversary in 2024.

“Fifty years ago, my father had the foresight to solve a simple conveying problem. Today, our company provides solutions for food, chemical, and a range of other industries with everything from stand-alone equipment to automated plant-wide systems that solve the most difficult bulk handling problems,” says David R. Gill, CEO.

Founded by William S. Gill in 1974, the company began manufacturing "flexible screw conveyors," a term coined by the company. Their simplicity, reliability and economy made them popular not only for basic conveying jobs, but also for demanding applications previously satisfied by more complicated and costly conveyors. 

Flexicon advanced the application of these conveyors faster and further than any other manufacturer, being the first to introduce 4-1/2 in. (115mm), 6 in. (150mm), and 8 in. (200mm) diameter screw/tube combinations that elevated conveying capacity more than 10-fold in an 8-year period.

As the capabilities of its conveyors grew, so did the company’s expansion into pneumatic conveying systems and tubular cable conveyors, as well as upstream and downstream equipment including: bulk bag dischargers, bulk bag fillers, bulk bag conditioners, bag dump stations, drum/box/container dumpers and weigh batching systems.

The company now offers "Quick-Ship" delivery on popular models of flexible screw conveyors, bulk bag dischargers and bulk bag conditioners, boasts over 25,000 installations, and offers a lifetime performance guarantee on equipment and systems.

In addition to stand-alone units, the company began engineering and manufacturing automated material handling systems complete with sophisticated control packages produced in-house for multi-point bulk storage, processing, and packaging applications, many of which involve difficult-to-handle materials, sanitary requirements, and explosive environments.

A separate Project Engineering Division manages large-scale bulk handling projects across the chemical, mineral, food, dairy and pharmaceutical industries worldwide.

To meet demand for its full line of bulk handling equipment, the company has expanded its US and overseas manufacturing operations 14 times, including the doubling of its World Headquarters in Bethlehem, PA in 2015.

Flexicon now holds 36 patents in 13 countries, operates manufacturing plants in the United States, UK, Australia, and South Africa, and maintains sales offices in France, Germany, Spain, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.  

“We are extraordinarily proud of our history and our people whose inventiveness, skill and dedication have propelled our non-stop growth over the last 50 years,” says Gill.