West Manufacturing News • February 2017 • Bourn & Koch Acquires Diamond Technology Innovations

Bourn & Koch, Rockford, IL, a subsidiary of Alleghany Capital Corporation, has acquired Diamond Technology Innovations (dti), Olympia, WA, a manufacturer of waterjet orifices, nozzles and related products and services.

“The acquisition of dti enhances Bourn & Koch’s existing business in machine tool consumables and spare parts and provides an entrance into the waterjet market,” said Terry Derrico, President of Bourn & Koch. “Waterjet is one of the faster growing segments within the machine tool industry. We are excited to partner with the team at dti and believe that both companies’ employees, suppliers and customers will benefit from this combination.”

Ted Jernigan, President of dti, said , “We are pleased to have found a long-term home for the company and are excited about the opportunities that will result from this transaction.” Jernigan will continue at dti in his role as president and the company’s day-to-day operations will not be impacted by the transaction.

Waterjet technology is capable of cutting a large range of materials such as carbon fiber found in aerospace wing panels; glass and steel up to a foot thick; soft materials such as automotive headliners; tissue paper; and even food products such as chicken, cakes and pickles. This is accomplished via an ultrahighpressure pump that generates a 94,000 PSI stream of water which is then converted into velocity via a specially-engineered jewel orifice that produces a coherent jet stream to cut soft materials with pure water alone, or in combination with abrasive to cut hard materials. While the orifice is often times the most overlooked waterjet component; without it, the entire system would fail to function, making waterjet orifice design critical to waterjet cutting performance.

Dti offers a full spectrum of orifice materials including low cost, short-life ruby and sapphire; mid-grade, low cost/high performance tetraCORE; and premium-grade, maximum value and lifetime, dtiCORE Diamond. “Waterjet machines outfitted with dtiCORE Diamond orifices achieve true alignment, maximized jet stream coherency and unsurpassed diamond life,” said a Bourn & Koch spokesperson. Jernigan said, “Waterjet cutting achieves optimum performance only with the best orifices. Dti’s diamond orifices typically last 1,000+ hours; and, with the highes tratingon the Mohs Hardness Scale, are a robust orifice material . With zero orifice I.D. edge degradation, precision jet stream alignment, maximum cutting precision and edge quality, dti orifices help end-users achieve the greatest cutting speeds, the best cuts and the least amount of downtime.”

In addition to orifices, dti has also created nozzles for the 3-D printing industry. In 2010, the company designed and manufactured diamond nozzles for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which are still in use on the Mars Curiosity Rover today. Terry Derrico said, “As part of the Bourn & Koch family, dti will be well positioned to accelerate its growth by leveraging our presence within the global machine tool market and the resources of Alleghany Capital.”