Company News

Pivot International Acquires Digital Concepts

Pivot Acquisition of Digital Concepts Pivot International, a technology engineering and manufacturing firm based in the Kansas City area, with 50+ years of experience in the fitness industry, has acquired Digital Concepts, the design, engineering, and manufacturing firm behind global fitness brands sought by consumers for in-home and commercial venues. Technology has transformed the fitness industry in the last 50 years, and for Pivot International, fitness technology is a part of the company’s roots. Visit the Pivot International website for more information about the Digital Concepts acquisition.

Pivot International Acquires Solar Pool Technologies

Pivot continues to expand its consumer-products portfolio and enhance its consumer-market position with the acquisition of Phoenix Arizona-based Solar Pool Technologies, a leader in solar-powered robotic swimming pool skimmers. Visit the Pivot International blog for more information about the Solar Pool Technologies acquisition.

Pivot International Acquires Castle Creations

Our parent company, Pivot International, has entered the electronic speed control and brushless DC motor retail markets with its acquiring the assets of Castle Creations. The company is based in the greater Kansas City area, and serves the global market.

Castle Creations is the leading aftermarket manufacturer of high-performance electronic speed controls and brushless DC motors for the radio-controlled (R/C) car, air and multi-rotor hobby markets as well as industrial UAVs.

Castle has 16 patents and 22 years of innovation in brushless DC motor design and motor control algorithms with a reputation for superior performance, configurability and quality. “Castle’s strong reputation, versatile products and unparalleled ‘make-it- right’ customer support have earned the company a large and ever-growing base of loyal customers” says Charles Morse, Director of Business Development, Castle Creations.

Castle’s leadership in the Radio Controlled (R/C) hobby market has created new opportunities for the company in commercial applications including firefighting helicopters, cooling systems, fuel pumps, underwater propulsion systems and more.

With Castle Creations, Pivot International has acquired a strong consumer brand with broad distribution through hobby distributors, local hobby shops, Amazon and direct to consumer.

Mark Dohnalek, President and CEO describes the company’s growth strategy as “an aggressive calibrated approach to organic and acquired competencies and capacity, expertise and assets to help customers meet market needs and global clients needs most effectively. Over the last five years, we have an annual growth of 141%, increased our staff from 136 to nearly 700 and have facilities in 11 locations around the world. This approach ensures that we are able to respond to needs and changes such as the imposition of China taxes and tariffs with speed and agility by providing alternative options and solutions for our clients. We have also invested in SMT mirrored technology in US and Asia so that we can simultaneously manufacture products in two continents to optimize output and respond to challenges or opportunities.”

Pivot International continues to build its portfolio of talent and resources around the world with offices in the US, London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, to support the European market, as well as offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Manila to support the Asian market along with its global supply chain and company-owned manufacturing operations. Pivot’s company-owned global resources provide a unique ability to engage the world’s top talent to design, develop and engineer a wide range of products coupled with the world’s most efficient and effective manufacturing offering for any product format. Pivot now boasts a talented global roster of over 100 product design engineers, and an overall global organization of over almost 700 associates, which encompasses facilities throughout US, UK, and Asia.

Pivot has a 47-year track record of outstanding performance, innovation, quality and design, engineering and manufacturing as a single-source expert serving clients in a broad range of industries including biometric/security products, wearable technology, touchscreen technology, medical, wireless, fitness, electronic components, agriculture, building operations and consumer products.

Mark Dohnalek affirms, “I am committed to ensuring that Pivot has the global capabilities to design and manufacture in the US, UK and Asia so that we can deliver the most efficient solution for our clients all over the world.”

Pivot International Acquires A2E Limited

Pivot International acquires A2E Limited to expand its global capabilities for electronics hardware and software design services as well as manufacturing capabilities. A2E Limited, based in Livingston in the Edinburgh, Scotland region is an award-winning design and engineering solutions firm in the oil and gas, defense and security, smart energy, medical and life science industries.

With the acquisition of A2E Limited, Pivot International now boasts a talented global roster of over 100 product design engineers, and an overall global organization of over 650 associates, which encompasses facilities throughout US, UK, and Asia.

A2E Limited, a 17-year-old company, has extensive development capabilities for hardware and software. The product design expertise includes ATEX experience that includes systems certified for intrinsically safe environments, along with high temperature and pressure solutions. The company specializes in single-source solutions, from concept development and design, prototype testing to design for manufacturing (DFM).

Mark Dohnalek, President and CEO describes the company’s growth strategy as “an aggressive calibrated approach to organic and acquired competencies and capacity, expertise and assets to help customers meet market needs and global clients needs most effectively. Over the last five years, we have an annual growth of 141%, increased our staff from 136 to 650, and have facilities in 10 locations around the world. This approach ensures that we are able to respond to needs and changes such as the imposition of China taxes and tariffs with speed and agility by providing alternative options and solutions for our clients. We have also invested in SMT mirrored technology in US and Asia so that we can simultaneously manufacture products in two continents to optimize output and respond to challenges or opportunities.”

David Ross, Managing Director of A2E Limited, says that the acquisition “will help serve our clients with expanded team of experts, capabilities, resources and locations globally. We are very optimistic about our affiliation with Pivot and its effect for our clients and our employees.”

Pivot International continues to build its portfolio of brands, talent and resources around the world with offices in the US, London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, to support the European market, as well as offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Manila to support the Asian market along with its global supply chain and company-owned manufacturing operations. Pivot’s company-owned global resources provide a unique ability to engage the world’s top talent to design, develop and engineer a wide range of products coupled with the world’s most efficient and effective manufacturing offering for any product format.

Pivot has a 47-year track record of outstanding performance, innovation, quality and design, engineering and manufacturing as a single-source expert serving clients in a broad range of industries including biometric/security products, wearable technology, touchscreen technology, medical, wireless, fitness, electronic components, agriculture, building operations and consumer products.

Mark Dohnalek affirms, “I am committed to ensuring that Pivot has the global capabilities to design and manufacture in the US, UK and Asia so that we can deliver the most efficient solution for our clients all over the world.”

Surface Mount Technology (SMT)

Pivot International has expanded its manufacturing capacity with a strategic investment in Surface Mount Technology (SMT) to secure its position as an industry leader in the designing, engineering and manufacturing of electronics industry in the US and in Asia. The investment includes the installation of two mirrored Samsung high-speed SMT lines in the Omaha, NE and in the Philippines, Manila, South Asia manufacturing facilities.

SMT technology is the newest, most effective and efficient electronic manufacturing solution, especially for small formats. It is utilized in virtually all commercial, industrial and consumer products with electronic features ranging from phones to computers, tablets, coffee makers, automobiles, ioT, biometric and medical products. Surface-mount technology (SMT) is a method for producing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted or placed directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards (PCBs). An electronic device so made is called a surface-mount device (SMD).

The automated SMT technology makes manufacturing highly efficient and consistent resulting in the most accurate execution of high-volume production. Pivot installed one SMT line in its Omaha, NE facility and the other in the Philippines, Manila, Asia facility. The mirrored lines are identical and can perform simultaneously with same specifications to maximize manufacturing volume. The mirrored technology is advantageous for customers who distribute globally, saving time and money on shipping to the destination from the closest manufacturing facility. This gives clients the assurance that their product manufacturing is failure-proof protecting customers’ manufacturing needs from natural disasters such as fires or floods, human incidents such as strikes or political/economic or implications such as tariff impositions or currency fluctuation. Pivot can switch or adjust the manufacturing instantaneously using the same equipment and specs in US and in Asia. The mirrored lines share a server and database that can run the same manufacturing on two continents simultaneously.

Mark Dohnalek, President and CEO of Pivot International states “This strategic investment expands our global manufacturing capacity and ensures that we are the expert of choice for the highest quality, efficient, consistent production with safeguards to deliver uninterrupted SMT products.”

Mark Dohnalek describes the company’s growth strategy as “an aggressive calibrated approach to growth of capacity, expertise and assets in order to help customers meet market needs with Pivot’s global process and resources most effectively.”

In order to support the global markets and serve customers in all geographies around the world, Pivot International continues to build its portfolio of brands, talent and resources with offices in the US, London and Glasgow, UK, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Pivot continues to expand its US national sales force, as well as continues to build company-owned manufacturing plants in the US and Asia. Pivot’s company-owned global resources provide a unique ability to engage the world’s top talent to develop and engineer product and the world’s most efficient and effective manufacturer for any product format.

Pivot has a 47-year track record of outstanding performance, innovation, quality and design, engineering and manufacturing as a single-source expert serving clients in a broad range of industries including biometric/security products, wearable technology, touchscreen technology, medical, wireless, fitness, electronic components, agriculture, building operations and consumer products.

Mark Dohnalek, President & CEO affirms, “I am committed to ensuring that Pivot has the global capabilities to manufacture in the US, UK and Asia so that we can deliver the most efficient solution for our clients all over the world.”