Element Materials Technology is to acquire Vohtec Qualitätssicherung, a company based in Southern Germany, adding four materials testing laboratories to its portfolio.

The facilities in Aalen, Altbach, Garching and Bad Friedrichshall are strategically located in close proximity to some of the largest automotive OEMs and their supply chain partners, including Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW and Audi.

Charles Noall, president and CEO of Element, said, “We are delighted to enter into this agreement with Vohtec. This acquisition is a hugely important step in the expansion of our transportation capabilities in Europe. As the market leader in North America for automotive testing, we aim to provide our European customers with the same capabilities, operational capacity and technical excellence as part of our ongoing strategy to satisfy our clients’ future testing requirements and also in support of our mission to become the world’s most trusted testing partner.”

Roland Vogt, MD of Vohtec, commented, “We are extremely proud of the achievements of our team and the strong reputation we have built since our company was founded in 1997. What started as a company of four people has now grown into the leading material testing provider to the German automotive sector with over 360 experts delivering more than 30 different destructive and non-destructive materials testing methods across four locations in Germany.

“Becoming part of the Element Group means that we will continue to deliver technical and service excellence to our customers, while further expanding our capabilities and capacity to better support their needs.”

The DIN EN ISO 9001: 2015 and DIN EN ISO / IEC 17025: 2005 accredited facilities specialize in a wide variety of non-destructive and destructive testing services including liquid penetrant inspection (PT); radiographic inspection (RT); eddy current inspection; visual inspection; tomography; tensile testing; impact testing; and failure analysis.

The purchase is expected to be completed by the end of June 2018 subject to the receipt of German regulatory approvals.