By Mike McNulty Rubber & Plastics News Malcolm, Iowa-RevTek Inc. has purchased inline-skate-wheel maker Cyko Inc. from ITWC Inc. to add an established name to its product lines and expand its production capabilities and customer base.The sale takes ITWC out of the polyurethane skate wheel, hub and tread manufacturing business, according to Walt Smith, who founded Cyko in 1992 and is president of ITWC. Malcolm-based ITWC will continue to make urethane materials for skate wheels.Included in the sale will be all production equipment utilized by Cyko, which will be moved to RevTek's facility in McHenry, Ill., he said. Some of the machinery is housed at the Malcolm site while the remainder is at a plant in Brooklyn, Iowa, operated by Thombert Inc. Thombert makes industrial forklift wheels and tires for original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket distribution. Smith is the principal owner of both ITWC and Thombert.A small crew that produced goods for Cyko while also working at ITWC will remain with ITWC, a spokesman said. The firms did not disclose financial details.The acquisition will boost RevTek's inline skate line business significantly, said RevTek President Mary Kay Melanouris, who added that Cyko will become a product line of the company."While RevTek is best known for its inline racing wheel technology, the Cyko products - which include hockey, recreational, aggressive and race wheels as well as wheels for kids - will now allow RevTek to offer a complete line of quality skate wheels with something for everyone," she said.ITWC produced PU materials for RevTek's skates during the past several years and built a strong relationship with the company, Smith said. ITWC was not looking to sell Cyko until RevTek made the suggestion, he said.Producing inline PU skate wheels, hubs and tracks "was a lot of fun for us," Smith said, "but it was stuck in corners and we couldn't give it the time to expand the business."ITWC rapidly is expanding its urethane machine business - including the production of mold transport systems, tanks and dispensing equipment - and needed additional space at the Malcolm facility.Its chemical business also is growing. In January, ITWC purchased Air Products and Chemicals Inc.'s methylene diphenyl diisocyanate business, inventory and customer base. The deal completes an eight-year relationship between the two companies under which ITWC produced MDI prepolymers for Air Products."
