In a merger of top narrow-web flexo pressmakers, St. Louis-based Mark Andy, Inc., acquires Comco Intl., Milford, Ohio, March 31. Mark Andy says it will continue to sell and support both product lines as leading industry brands.

"It is a union of world-class companies with world-class products," says John Eulich, president of Mark Andy, at a special press conference April 5 in Chicago. "The acquisition of Comco provides Mark Andy with an exceptional strategic growth opportunity in flexible-packaging and folding-carton applications. There is very little overlap in our product lines as Mark Andy has emphasized solutions for the label market."

Mark Andy will consolidate the companies' sales forces and distribution, maintain Comco manufacturing at Comco's Milford headquarters, and combine outsourcing of certain items for both product lines. Mark Andy press manufacturing in St. Louis will be expanded, and some Comco parts will be made there as well, Eulich says.

The Comco management team will be maintained and integrated with Mark Andy. Led by founder and president Mark Herrmann, Comco has been designing and building narrow-web presses since 1969.

"Over the past few years, Comco has successfully refocused its strategy to concentrate on the folding-carton and flex-pack markets with the MSP ProGlide? press line," says Herrmann. "These achievements, combined with Mark Andy's history of developing and supplying narrow-web flexo presses to the tag and label markets, will create a new level of synergy."

Eulich says, "The acquisition will have a greater impact on Mark Andy-Comco sales internationally than domestically. Comco has a very good position in North America, and Mark Andy distributes to 35 countries." He made note of the Comco Mark Series mid-web flexo press, which is gaining popularity with folding-carton converters, as well as the Comco MSP multisubstrate presses. The documented cost savings will drive larger companies to do inline-flexo cartonmaking via Comco, Eulich says.

The High Definition Flexo Consortium, of which Comco is a founding member, will be revitalized through Mark Andy's participation, Eulich says. "It's important, another means to jointly sell flexo, and a gain for the entire industry."

In other news, Mark Andy received ISO 9001 certification on April 2. The company is reportedly the first U.S. narrow-web flexo pressmaker to gain the standard.