Harrington Acquires the Crist Group

Harrington Industrial Plastics, a Portfolio Company of Nautic Partners, Announces Acquisition of Crist Group

Harrington Industrial Plastics (“Harrington”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Crist Group (“Crist”), in partnership with the company’s owner, Paul Crist.  Headquartered in Woodland, CA, Crist is a leading specialty fabricator of critical fluid process components and assemblies with a focus on the semiconductor end market and applications in other markets including medical.  Crist’s highly technical fabrication capabilities include infrared fusion welding, hot gas welding, ultrasonic welding, CNC machining, laser drilling and etching, precision flaring, and clean room preparation and packaging.  Paul Crist developed an expertise in fluoropolymer materials while he was an executive at Harrington in the 1990’s, and he founded the company in 2000.

Under Paul’s leadership, Crist has grown into a market leader in fluoropolymer fabrication producing custom assemblies that are specified into production-level semiconductor tool equipment.  The company has led the industry in innovation around process design, tooling, and engineering capabilities to better serve its customers.  Today, Crist enjoys a strong reputation for process expertise and high-quality products and services. The acquisition will enable Harrington to deepen its offering to customers in the semiconductor industry by providing fabrication services that complement its existing products.  For more information on Crist visit www.cristgroup.com.

Dave Abercrombie, CEO of Harrington, said, “Paul Crist and his team have built a strong fabrication operation that is well-known for its unique technical competencies in fluoropolymer materials, particularly in the rapidly growing semiconductor segment.  We have had a longstanding relationship with Crist Group and Paul personally and are very excited to welcome the Crist team into the Harrington organization.  The acquisition is highly complementary to our business and will enhance our ability to provide differentiated, value-add products and services to our customers.  We are very pleased to have closed Harrington’s third add-on and we will continue to evaluate other attractive opportunities.”

Paul Crist, who is joining the Harrington team and will continue to run the Crist division, said, “We have had a strong relationship with Harrington as a trusted vendor and are now very excited to be joining the Harrington platform.  Crist Group has succeeded in achieving substantial growth and developing strong customer relationships, and we believe that with Harrington’s resources and distribution network we can further support our customers and broaden our reach.  I can say confidently based on our experience with Harrington as a vendor, my personal relationship with Dave Abercrombie and the Harrington team, as well as my former experience as an employee at Harrington, that our two companies share a similar culture of dedication to customer service and support for our employees.  We look forward to a strong partnership.”

Crist Group Capabilities

Crist Group specializes in fabricating fluoroplastics PFA, FEP, PTFE, PTFM (weldable PTFE), ECTFE, and PVDF

PFA Fusion Welded Pipe & Tubing Manifolds

  • Crist Group has developed its own proprietary fusion welding equipment allowing tube & pipe weldments 1/16″ through 3″
  • Side fusion welding to tank or piping walls. (Note: Side fusion welding eliminates excess fittings and provides full pressure capability while streamlining systems)
  • Angular fitting welds allow for custom fitting configurations such as custom angle elbows and WYE pattern fittings

Formed PFA Tube Assemblies

  • A unique, proprietary process for forming PFA, FEP, & PTFE tubing into precise, multi-axis tubing assemblies
  • Our C-SHAPE process insures the assembly will be exactly the same this week and for years to come
  • These assemblies retain their shape at elevated temperatures due to C-SHAPE that forms 100% of the assembly, not just the bends
  • C-SHAPE changes the material memory which results in a pre-formed assembly that stays in shape indefinitely.

Specialty Fittings

  • Custom PFA fittings, dip tubes, spargers
  • FLANGES: PFA, PTFE, PTFM in any size with any outlet. We can provide backing rings in stainless or polypro encapsulated steel

PFA & FEP Retractable Coils & Spray Rinse Assemblies

  • We use a proprietary process to form coils to specific dimensions that hold there shape under constant flex and internal pressures
  • Tube within tube coils for recirculation applications
  • Our coils have been tested up to 1,000,000 flex cycles without failure

Fluoroplastic & Thermoplastic Hot Gas Welding

  • We produce weldments in PFA, PTFM, PVC, PP, PE, PVDF, HALAR, and other high-performance plastics
  • Dissimilar materials welding capabilities
  • Dip tubes and sparger pipe fusion welded for maximum strength

PFA Tank & Vessel Fabrication

  • Specialist in welded PFA tanks
  • Pressurized canisters for fluid delivery, heat exchangers & process filtration

Dedicated Non-Metallic CNC Machining Facility

  • Complex high-purity fluoroplastic process parts
  • We are able to control lead-time and quality control by machining fluoroplastic parts in house
  • To control purity we only machine high-performance plastics; zero metal machining

Clean Room Preparation & Packaging

  • Certified cleanroom class 7 with capabilities to go below
  • All products are cleanroom prepared and double bagged.

Laser Etching, Drilling & Cutting

  • Fully fluorinated plastics possess unique mechanical properties that allow material removal without incineration.
  • Intricate parts can be laser cut from PTFE, PTFM, PFA, and FEP.
  • Precision drilling below .010 is possible in round hole, slits, rectangular & oval patterns.
  • This allows pipe or tubing manifolds to be used as spray rinse assemblies, inert gas chemical agitation and dispersed chemical injection.
  • Laser part number, chemical identification info, and direction arrows can be permanently etched into the surface of pipe tubing or flat stock. Laser etching can also be used to improve surface energy for certain operating conditions. 

Thermoplastic Pipe Manifold Fabrication

  • Pipe manifold fabrication including solvent welding and fusion welding

More to explore...

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