General Kinematics

General Kinematics Corporation is a privately held company established in 1960 by the Musschoot family in Crystal Lake outside of Chicago, Illinois.

“We have developed and are known for our expertise in vibratory energy and its application in the conveyance and conversion of material. We are the leading supplier of systems for handling the cast off assets of material within the foundry industry on a worldwide basis” Gordon Frank, Vice President of Sales and Marketing says.

“We also work in about 12 other heavy industries where the conditions in which we employ our technology tend to be some of the most severe and tend to be the primary process lines within factories which actually enable factories to run reliably and predictably seven/24. If our technology is not working then plants will not run and function so we excel in developing solutions which are reliable and suitable for the applications.”

This world leading vibratory energy systems company has 150 employees across their offices in Europe, Asia and their native Illinois headquarters.

“With an employee base of only 150 people we it can become difficult for us to stand alone in the market. We foster and develop relationships with other companies where we cooperate in markets to leverage our sales and our partner’s sales” Frank explains.

This is how General Kinematics continues to form and develop worldwide successful partnerships today.

Going Global
Frank explains that not long ago the bulk of General Kinematics’ sales tended to stem from a little closer to home.

“About seven years ago probably 80 per cent of our sales were within the United States and within perhaps 12 hours driving distance from our facility in the mid-west, but now I would say that we’re probably 45 per cent in the U.S for sales and 55 per cent international and now 80 per cent of our customers are within 12 hours flight from Chicago” he says.

“The entire dynamics of our organization have shifted and we’ve become a global organization. The challenge of converting a company from a mid-west United States company to a global company has had its challenges over the time but we’re quick pace and we’ve been able to adapt and become what we are today; a global organization.”

Frank explains that the diverse range of industries in which General Kinematics has partnered reflects the “migration of the foundry industry.”

“We’re also doing turnkey facilities, waste to energy facilities, working with other companies in the commercialization of a very unique leaching process in the precious metals area. We’re releasing and have accepted orders for a news series of high capacity screens for the mining industry. We’ve signed an agreement with a mining supplier in China” he says.

“We’re also involved with many world renowned mining companies both for screening feeding and the leaching process we have introduced.”

This is not the only partnership that General Kinematics has developed with a focus on China.

“We’ve formed a partnership with a fabricator in the region to manufacture foundry equipment for India and China. We also have a partner in China also for promoting our coal handling technology which is well-established in the United States and has taken hold in China” Frank says

Continued Stateside Success
One partnership which exemplifies General Kinematics strategic alliances is with fellow Illinois-based company United Conveyor Corporation.  Frank explains that this partnership sees UCC and General Kinematics in “pursuit of dry bottom ash removal systems for power plants.”

“We’ve developed the technology of placing a conveyor directly below the throat of a coal power plant furnace or boiler and there UCC is promoting our technology and theirs to the power industry worldwide. This means that ours is a very critical technology in the system and we’re combined with a very fine company out of Chicago as far as a customer base and other related technologies” Frank says.

“The UCC is one of our strategic partners.”

Another interesting partnership is with The Savaged Organization of Salt Lake City.

“They basically operate the coking operations at the refineries and we’ve developed a technology for dewatering the coking operation in a mechanical as opposed to use of retention ponds or static de-watering bins  and they’re promoting that technology to their customer base” Frank explains.

The Future Foundry Industry
Frank is clear about the direction in which General Kinematics seeks to continue their strategic alliances and growth.

“Our company strategy is to follow the migration of the foundry industry. It’s shifting from the U.S and Western Europe to the developing regions of the world” he says.

“We have right to a market share in the development of the foundry industry and we migrate to other areas of the world through the growth of foundry sales. Once in a region we explore opportunities in  other industries like steel, mining  and chemical. Our goal is to take our proven technologies and capture market share in developing regions of the world.”

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