Yes, the vacuum pump world has been confusing recently. The short story is there has been much consolidation, name changing, and company purchases within the last 10 years. Many of the purchased companies are companies with 60 to a 100-year history. Brooks Automation bought CTI (and MKS). Edwards Vacuum bought the Seiko Seiki Vacuum Company a few years back. At first, the Seiko Seiki Pumps (STP) still were referenced as Seiko Seiki, but since the last few years, they now all state Edwards. They are still manufactured in Japan. Edwards bought Stokes Vacuum (and subsequently cancelled much of the Stokes line). BOC Edwards is now known as Edwards Vacuum as BOC sold the vacuum pump line. Gardner Denver, a Thomas Company has purchased Nash, Welch, Rietschle, Hoffman/Lamson and Champion. Leybold changed their name to Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum. Pfeiffer Vacuum recently bought Alcatel which had just changed its name to Adixen. Tuthill bought Kinney Vacuum, MD Pneumatics, and Atlantic Fluidics and consolidated all three in Springfield, MO. All three companies are slowly getting rid of the original names and are going with Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems. Varian Vacuum is now owned by Agilent Technologies. Varian sold their cryo business to Ebara who then sold the line to Genesis. Have any questions about the new manufacturer's names? Contact us, and we would be happy to help you sort it all out.
