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Conair Today

History of Growth

The company that opened it doors in 1956 as a manufacturer of plastics conveying equipment is much more than that today. In fact, Conair is now the largest and fastest growing producer of auxiliary equipment for plastics processing in the world. Employing over 600 people, Conair makes and markets over 450 different products — from materials handling, drying and blending systems, to temperature control equipment, granulators, robots, pelletizers and downstream systems for pipe and profile extrusion. And Conair is a leader in plastics process integration, helping plastics processors manage their valuable raw materials, handle their critical manufactured parts, and improve their process yield.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Conair manufactures and assembles its products at one fully integrated, 120,000-sq.-ft. plant in Franklin, PA, where employees handle everything from laser cutting of sheet metal to final assembly and painting.
In its Technical Center in Pittsburgh, Conair has created a one-of-a-kind laboratory with injection molding cells and extrusion lines and all the latest auxiliary equipment. Here, under real-world conditions, Conair engineers test new designs and help customers with product evaluations and application solutions.

Working with customer and supplier partners around the globe. Marshaling vast engineering and manufacturing resources to put good ideas to work. Fielding the largest, most experienced corps of service and support professionals in the business. Using unmatched experience and expertise in different markets and processes to develop equipment that is more reliable and more productive. This is Conair today.

Conair was founded in 1956 by small-town entrepreneur John Reib. He was one of the first in the plastics industry to recognize the need to automate the material handling process and worked on ways to increase yields for injection molders and extruders everywhere.

The company was soon the dominant name in the auxiliaries market and remained that way when the company was bought by GWH Holdings Company in 1986. At that time Conair consisted of a plant and headquarters in Franklin, Pennsylvania and the Jetro division in Bay City Michigan. At Franklin, Conair manufactured bulk systems, material handling and conditioning equipment, water equipment, and reclaim systems while Jetro manufactured pelletizers, granulators and robots.

Conair was also expanding globally by joining forces with Churchill, UK manufacturer of liquid temperature control units. Later, Churchill evolved into Conair Europe. To serve the far east, Conair Pacific was formed in Singapore. More recently, Conair Mexicana was formed to serve Mexico, Central America, and South America.

After GWH formed The Conair Group in 1986, Martin, Inc., robotics manufacturer in Agawam, Massachusetts, was acquired. Further acquisitions included Gatto Machinery, downstream equipment manufacturer, and Wor-Tex, granulator manufacturer, in 1988. Then, in 1989, Tempro was formed from the ground up in the Chicago area to manufacture the best liquid temperature controllers ever built.

Conair soon was posting record sales volumes allowing the company to grow over 350% in just 10 years. That made Conair the largest and fastest growing supplier of auxiliary equipment in the world.

In 1997 perhaps the biggest, most significant chapter was written on the growth of Conair. All divisions were at once merged into a new corporate and technical center in Pittsburgh, PA and service, parts, and post-sale support were merged into the recently expanded manufacturing facility in Franklin.

This exciting development means that today the extraordinary talents of Conair employees are merged with the full line of Conair products and services. The transition provides customers with total solutions they've been looking for and haven't been able to find.

And the growth isn't over yet. Conair will continue to grow, expand and evolve in order to always be the most reliable solution provider to plastics processors world-wide.