REMOTE CONTROLS Cattron increases business

The business being acquired has 90 workers in Montreal and Pittsburgh.
SHARPSVILLE, Pa. -- Cattron Group has acquired a Montreal-based business to broaden its product line of wireless devices that are used for switching of railroad locomotives.
Cattron acquired Beltpack from Canadian National Railway for an undisclosed price.
Beltpack has 90 employees in Montreal and Pittsburgh. Those workers will remain in place for now while Cattron officials work on a long-term strategy for integrating the two companies, said Mike Pearson, Cattron's vice president of finance.
Last December, Sharpsville-based Cattron sold its Cattron Communications business to Staley Communications of Wheeling, W.Va., so it could focus on its remote-control business, Cattron-Theimeg.
Worldwide operation
The remote-control business has about 140 workers in Sharpsville but about 360 around the world. Cattron also has operations in Canada, South Africa, Brazil and Europe.
Cattron and Beltpack make similar products for the railroad industry, but combining the lines will expand Cattron's offerings, said Jim Robertson, Cattron president.
"This is part of the Cattron Group's strategy to grow our core business. We believe that the combined strength of the companies reinforces our foothold in the remote-control technology market," he said.
The deal also will add remote-control systems for industry, which is another strength of Cattron.
Pearson said Beltpack is the name of the acquired company's leading product. The company used to be known as Canac Remote Control Technologies, but the name was changed as Canadian National Railway began selling off divisions of the company.
Cattron has installed remote-control products in more than 10,000 railroad systems throughout the world. Overall, it has installed more than 100,000 systems in shipyards, mines, steel mills and other industries.