Rotating Machinery Services buys GE's CONMEC compressor business

Rotating Machinery Services, Inc. has acquired the AC Compressor business from Baker Hughes, a GE Company. This acquisition brings the expert personnel, intellectual property and associated tooling of AC Compressor under the RMS umbrella. RMS will also receive the drawings and designs for the centrifugal and axial compressors offering, developed under the business known as CONMEC.

“The opportunity to serve our combined customer base as the OEM for AC Compressor products and CONMEC-engineered compressors offers our customers a best-of-both-worlds approach,” said John Bartos, CEO at RMS.

In 2017 RMS acquired the Mepco business in Houston. Prior to the acquisition, RMS had a portfolio that consisted of engineered solutions for compressors, expanders, and steam turbines. Dirk Paraschos, Vice President of Operations, Houston, of RMS said: “The addition of AC Compressor and CONMEC expertise augments and reinforces our existing portfolio, while expanding our product range to cover even more markets, including internationally where AC Compressor has strong representative partnerships.”

“There is a lot of mutual history within these companies,” said Bartos. “Even prior to the acquisition, current RMS personnel clocked over 485 years of experience within CONMEC and 120 years within AC Compressor. In a way, it’s sort of a homecoming combining these three great entities.”

AC Compressor has a history dating back to 1931 under the former Allis-Chalmers nameplate. The modern incarnation of AC Compressor began in 1985 in Appleton, WI. Complementary brand CONMEC started in 1987, offering solutions and hardware for all vendor turbomachinery nameplates. AC Compressor acquired CONMEC in 1997. In 2001, GE acquired both businesses. The AC Compressor business services and repairs industrial compressors in the refining & petrochemical, industrial, onshore/offshore production and pipeline & gas processing industries. The product line consists of axial, centrifugal and oil-free-screw compressors, with a worldwide installed base of over 1200 machines.

RMS, with principal headquarters and manufacturing facility in Bethlehem, PA started out engineering, repairing, servicing and upgrading rotating machinery in 1998. The company recently expanded its business to Houston with the acquisition of Mepco, a 64,000-square-foot repair center located near the Hobby Airport, in mid-2017. RMS also has an engineering and sales office in Appleton, WI.