Hardinge Inc. is buying the Voumard Internal Diameter (ID) Grinding business from Peter Wolters GmbH and will add it to its Kellenberger product line. The cost and other terms of the purchase agreement were not announced, but Elmira, N.Y.-based machine tool builder indicated that it expects to be quoting projects by the end of this year and to start selling the machines by late 2015.

Peter Wolters, of Rendsburg, Germany, has not commented on the sale. It will continue to own the Voumard OD grinding assets.

The significance of the sale is that it expands Hardinge’s stable of grinding technologies, which includes the Kellenberger, Hauser, Jones & Shipman, Tschudin, and Usach brands, as well as its own branded products.

It also adds to the list of recent mergers and acquisitions in the manufacturing technology sector. While machine tool sales have been less than robust, the market has seen a spate of combinations in recent months, bringing together machine tool builders, tooling suppliers, and developers of design and programming software

Hardinge designs and manufactures CNC machine tools and workholding technology under its own nameplate, as well as under several others brands it has assembled. The company also has been an active buyer of competing and complementary assets in recent years, including the Forkhardt and Usach brands.

"The Voumard ID offerings by our Hardinge Grinding Group are a complement to our current product lines, resulting in a complete spectrum of internal and external diameter cylindrical grinding solutions to provide our customers,” explained Rick Simons, chairman, president and CEO of Hardinge. “By incorporating it into our existing grinding businesses, Voumard customers can anticipate the same superior quality and technical support they have seen from our Kellenberger operations. This investment continues the company's strategy of growing through new product development and targeted acquisitions."

Voumard, originally a Swiss manufacturer, has over 9,000 machining technologies in place for more than 2,500 customers worldwide, according to the buyer. It was acquired by the Peter Wolters organization in 2005 and relocated to Germany in 2010.

Harding plans to consolidate the Voumard ID production with its Kellenberger organization, thereby returning part of the Voumard legacy to Switzerland.