New Ownership of Guild International
Three long-term employees, Joe Thomas, Bill Maruschak and Mark Wagner, have purchased the company.
Posted: January 17, 2018
Guild International, Inc. (Bedford, OH), a world leader in coil joining equipment for the steel processing, tube producing and stamping industries, announces new ownership with the purchase of the company by three long-term employees: Joseph “Joe” Thomas, formally their vice president of operations, has been named president; William “Bill” Maruschak will continue as their chief financial officer; and Mark Wagner, formally a sales engineer, has been named their vice president of sales. Thomas and Maruschak have each been with the company for over 30 years, while Wagner joined them in 2009.
Guild is a privately-held firm that has been owned by Michael Wheeler, the son of Donald Wheeler, the original founder of the company. He will continue on as the chairman of the board. The company was established in 1958 and holds many patents for their coil joining processes and equipment through the years. They have designed and built thousands of installations around the world on virtually all types of coil processing lines. “As a longtime employee, I’ve always known that we were a solid, stable builder of great machines,” says Thomas. “When the opportunity was presented to purchase the company from Mike, with Bill and Mark as my partners, I knew this would be a chance of a lifetime. Now Bill, Mark and myself have the opportunity to take Guild into the future, built on a solid reputation of 60 years serving many industries.”
The company offers a complete line of coil end welding machines for almost any steel processing, tube and pipe producing or stamping application. Their line of patented equipment includes laser welders, arc welders and resistance welders. Their Shearwelders™, Zipwelders™ and Zapwelders™ are some of the most technically advanced welding machines available on the market. They also produce a full line of entry equipment including uncoilers, speed funnels, flatteners and horizontal accumulators for tube and pipe mills. Each one of these machines is designed and manufactured to improve the productivity of any strip processing line requiring coil handling and coil end joining and welding.