NEWARK — Upstate Refractory Services (URS), a contractor, installer and distributor of refractory materials in Newark in Wayne County, has acquired the assets of Cicero–based Hanyan-Higgins Company Inc. URS specializes in “engineered precast refractory shapes, stack bonded ceramic fiber panels used in furnace roofs, walls and doors, refractory relines and repairs, distribution of refractory materials, […]
NEWARK — Upstate Refractory Services (URS), a contractor, installer and distributor of refractory materials in Newark in Wayne County, has acquired the assets of Cicero–based Hanyan-Higgins Company Inc.
URS specializes in “engineered precast refractory shapes, stack bonded ceramic fiber panels used in furnace roofs, walls and doors, refractory relines and repairs, distribution of refractory materials, combustion controls, and design and fabrication of new furnaces,” according to its website.
Industrial heating furnaces serving the heat treating, forging, foundry, and ceramics industries are “our core competency,” per the company’s LinkedIn page.
Hanyan-Higgins, which has a main office located at 7397 Taft Park Drive in Cicero, has been providing refractory sales and service to industrial, commercial, and municipal customers for nearly 90 years. It also has locations in Albany and Massena
The deal closed on March 2, says Dave Wetmore, president of URS. He declined to disclose any terms of the asset-acquisition agreement when he spoke to CNYBJ on March 12.
“We’ve been friends for nearly 20 years,” says Wetmore, referring to URS’ relationship with Hanyan-Higgins.
Wetmore co-owns URS along with his wife, Diane, who serves as the firm’s VP, he says.
URS has construction capability, but the workers at Hanyan-Higgins “specialize in it,” according to Wetmore. The difference between the two firms, he notes, is that Hanyan-Higgins handles “a lot” of on-site installation work, saying it is “pretty much their focus.”
“They have some equipment that we didn’t have and they have some customer relationships that we didn’t have,” says Wetmore.
In its area, Hanyan-Higgins had a “great following” and “good loyal customer base.”
“That was what really attracted us to them,” says Wetmore.
The acquisition puts URS closer to some of its customers that are located to the east and north of the firm’s main office in Wayne County.
“Hanyan-Higgins typically did construction work and they staged some of their material and equipment closer to the customer, which gives you a little quicker response time,” says Wetmore.
The acquisition deal
In the deal, URS added four employees to increase its employee count to about 43 workers. The new employees include John and Dave Higgins, who co-owned Hanyan-Higgins before the acquisition. A third owner, Joe Higgins, an older brother, is retiring, according to Wetmore.
URS also acquired equipment, vehicles, and specialized tools. The company is leasing the Cicero location from Hanyan-Higgins, he added.
URS also plans to maintain a presence with the Hanyan-Higgins location in Albany but isn’t sure how it plans to handle the Hanyan-Higgins site in Massena, says Wetmore. It’s been mainly used for storage, and Wetmore figures URS may continue using the facility for that same purpose.
URS currently has a customer list of about 180 clients and will add about 80 to 100 new customers with the acquisition. “There was some overlap with us because we’re in the same business,” says Wetmore.
URS services the heat-process industry with customers that include Crucible Steel in Geddes; Novelis, a producer of flat-rolled aluminum products in Oswego; and Alcoa Corp. in Massena, he says.
“The thing that we want to stress to [Hanyan-Higgins] customers is that we intend to take care of them as well as they were taken care of before,” he says.
Hanyan-Higgins has been a distributor of Plibrico refractory products for over 60 years, and with this acquisition, URS will continue to offer Plibrico across upstate, Central, and Western New York.
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NEWARK — Upstate Refractory Services (URS), a contractor, installer and distributor of refractory materials in Newark in Wayne County, has acquired the assets of Cicero–based Hanyan-Higgins Company Inc.
URS specializes in “engineered precast refractory shapes, stack bonded ceramic fiber panels used in furnace roofs, walls and doors, refractory relines and repairs, distribution of refractory materials, combustion controls, and design and fabrication of new furnaces,” according to its website.
Industrial heating furnaces serving the heat treating, forging, foundry, and ceramics industries are “our core competency,” per the company’s LinkedIn page.
Hanyan-Higgins, which has a main office located at 7397 Taft Park Drive in Cicero, has been providing refractory sales and service to industrial, commercial, and municipal customers for nearly 90 years. It also has locations in Albany and Massena
The deal closed on March 2, says Dave Wetmore, president of URS. He declined to disclose any terms of the asset-acquisition agreement when he spoke to CNYBJ on March 12.
“We’ve been friends for nearly 20 years,” says Wetmore, referring to URS’ relationship with Hanyan-Higgins.
Wetmore co-owns URS along with his wife, Diane, who serves as the firm’s VP, he says.
URS has construction capability, but the workers at Hanyan-Higgins “specialize in it,” according to Wetmore. The difference between the two firms, he notes, is that Hanyan-Higgins handles “a lot” of on-site installation work, saying it is “pretty much their focus.”
“They have some equipment that we didn’t have and they have some customer relationships that we didn’t have,” says Wetmore.
In its area, Hanyan-Higgins had a “great following” and “good loyal customer base.”
“That was what really attracted us to them,” says Wetmore.
The acquisition puts URS closer to some of its customers that are located to the east and north of the firm’s main office in Wayne County.
“Hanyan-Higgins typically did construction work and they staged some of their material and equipment closer to the customer, which gives you a little quicker response time,” says Wetmore.
The acquisition deal
In the deal, URS added four employees to increase its employee count to about 43 workers. The new employees include John and Dave Higgins, who co-owned Hanyan-Higgins before the acquisition. A third owner, Joe Higgins, an older brother, is retiring, according to Wetmore.
URS also acquired equipment, vehicles, and specialized tools. The company is leasing the Cicero location from Hanyan-Higgins, he added.
URS also plans to maintain a presence with the Hanyan-Higgins location in Albany but isn’t sure how it plans to handle the Hanyan-Higgins site in Massena, says Wetmore. It’s been mainly used for storage, and Wetmore figures URS may continue using the facility for that same purpose.
URS currently has a customer list of about 180 clients and will add about 80 to 100 new customers with the acquisition. “There was some overlap with us because we’re in the same business,” says Wetmore.
URS services the heat-process industry with customers that include Crucible Steel in Geddes; Novelis, a producer of flat-rolled aluminum products in Oswego; and Alcoa Corp. in Massena, he says.
“The thing that we want to stress to [Hanyan-Higgins] customers is that we intend to take care of them as well as they were taken care of before,” he says.
Hanyan-Higgins has been a distributor of Plibrico refractory products for over 60 years, and with this acquisition, URS will continue to offer Plibrico across upstate, Central, and Western New York.
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NEWARK — Upstate Refractory Services (URS), a contractor, installer and distributor of refractory materials in Newark in Wayne County, has acquired the assets of Cicero–based Hanyan-Higgins Company Inc. URS specializes in “engineered precast refractory shapes, stack bonded ceramic fiber panels used in furnace roofs, walls and doors, refractory relines and repairs, distribution of refractory materials, […]
NEWARK — Upstate Refractory Services (URS), a contractor, installer and distributor of refractory materials in Newark in Wayne County, has acquired the assets of Cicero–based Hanyan-Higgins Company Inc.
URS specializes in “engineered precast refractory shapes, stack bonded ceramic fiber panels used in furnace roofs, walls and doors, refractory relines and repairs, distribution of refractory materials, combustion controls, and design and fabrication of new furnaces,” according to its website.
Industrial heating furnaces serving the heat treating, forging, foundry, and ceramics industries are “our core competency,” per the company’s LinkedIn page.
Hanyan-Higgins, which has a main office located at 7397 Taft Park Drive in Cicero, has been providing refractory sales and service to industrial, commercial, and municipal customers for nearly 90 years. It also has locations in Albany and Massena
The deal closed on March 2, says Dave Wetmore, president of URS. He declined to disclose any terms of the asset-acquisition agreement when he spoke to CNYBJ on March 12.
“We’ve been friends for nearly 20 years,” says Wetmore, referring to URS’ relationship with Hanyan-Higgins.
Wetmore co-owns URS along with his wife, Diane, who serves as the firm’s VP, he says.
URS has construction capability, but the workers at Hanyan-Higgins “specialize in it,” according to Wetmore. The difference between the two firms, he notes, is that Hanyan-Higgins handles “a lot” of on-site installation work, saying it is “pretty much their focus.”
“They have some equipment that we didn’t have and they have some customer relationships that we didn’t have,” says Wetmore.
In its area, Hanyan-Higgins had a “great following” and “good loyal customer base.”
“That was what really attracted us to them,” says Wetmore.
The acquisition puts URS closer to some of its customers that are located to the east and north of the firm’s main office in Wayne County.
“Hanyan-Higgins typically did construction work and they staged some of their material and equipment closer to the customer, which gives you a little quicker response time,” says Wetmore.
The acquisition deal
In the deal, URS added four employees to increase its employee count to about 43 workers. The new employees include John and Dave Higgins, who co-owned Hanyan-Higgins before the acquisition. A third owner, Joe Higgins, an older brother, is retiring, according to Wetmore.
URS also acquired equipment, vehicles, and specialized tools. The company is leasing the Cicero location from Hanyan-Higgins, he added.
URS also plans to maintain a presence with the Hanyan-Higgins location in Albany but isn’t sure how it plans to handle the Hanyan-Higgins site in Massena, says Wetmore. It’s been mainly used for storage, and Wetmore figures URS may continue using the facility for that same purpose.
URS currently has a customer list of about 180 clients and will add about 80 to 100 new customers with the acquisition. “There was some overlap with us because we’re in the same business,” says Wetmore.
URS services the heat-process industry with customers that include Crucible Steel in Geddes; Novelis, a producer of flat-rolled aluminum products in Oswego; and Alcoa Corp. in Massena, he says.
“The thing that we want to stress to [Hanyan-Higgins] customers is that we intend to take care of them as well as they were taken care of before,” he says.
Hanyan-Higgins has been a distributor of Plibrico refractory products for over 60 years, and with this acquisition, URS will continue to offer Plibrico across upstate, Central, and Western New York.
