Great Lakes Acquires Plotz Machine & Forge

The Great Lakes Towing Company announced recently that it has purchased the Wm. Plotz Machine & Forge Company.

The acquisition includes all Plotz Machine’s assets and real estate.

“The acquisition of Plotz Machine will increase the services provided by Great Lakes, allowing the company to now offer marine and industrial machine shop services to all types of customers, including its shipyard new construction and ship repair customers,” Great Lakes Towing said on its company blog at thegreatlakesgroup.com.

Great Lakes retained all Plotz Machine employees and said it expects to supplement them with administrative and financial support to help grow Plotz Machine’s current book of business. Plotz Machine is a jobbing machine shop, specializing in remanufactured replacement parts for commercial, municipal, marine and industrial operations. Services include repair and overhaul work on shafts, bearings, pumps, motors, valves, cooling towers and ventilation systems, as well as fabrication a wide array of precision-machined products. Plotz Machine has both commercial and government customers in the greater Cleveland area and throughout the Midwest.
Both Plotz Machine and Great Lakes Towing have been in continuous business since the late 1800s and have long histories in Cleveland.

“We see many similarities between our two 120-plus year old, family-owned, Cleveland-based businesses, and we look forward to leveraging synergies to create long-term value for the collective benefit of both businesses, our customer and our city,” said Joe Starck, president of The Great Lakes Towing Company.