Last July, we reported Mitchell Golf Equipment Company, industry leader in loft and lie machines and other golf club bending equipment, was seeking a buyer. Founder and CEO Ed Mitchell was hoping for absorption into a larger company to reduce overhead and capitalize on the efficiencies of being nested inside a larger manufacturer.

As of December 1, Caster Concepts, a manufacturer of heavy duty industrial casters, purchased all assets of Mitchell Golf, and the the company has relocated to Caster’s facility in Albion, Michigan.

Ed Mitchell explained at the time the announcement, “Certainly partnering with a caster company was not my first thought, [but] when I met Bill Dobbins President, Brian Burt Controller and Andrew Dobbins General Manager, and fully understood the expertise that was within their company, it was clear there was a great fit for my company.”

Now a couple of months into the new arrangement, we caught up with Mr. Mitchell by phone to see how things are going.

I asked how they got linked up with Caster Concepts in the first place.

“We were looking for someone that could provide the machining and metal fabrication in house that we didn’t have…to find that already in the golf industry was very difficult.”

“I happened on a firm just 20 miles west of Jackson, which is my hometown. The son of the owner of the firm [Andrew Dobbins] had spent about eight or 10 years as a PGA Professional and he was familiar with our machines. So they had a connection to the industry, and with their in-house manufacturing, it seemed like a great fit.”

Mitchell indicated Castor Concepts offers a full buffet of resources.

“This company does business all over the world. They have a very sound grounding in manufacturing. They have a laser cutter. They have polyurethane capabilities. The have powder coating. They have in-house painting. They have in-house welding as well as all types of machining…all the tools that are needed to produce the precision parts that go into our machines. We’re able to take ideas from skratchpad all the way to production.”  

Mitchell also told us a few of the ways the the arrangement will help the company are

• Get delivery times back to within days.
• Add new design features the current line, as well as continue to improve on our machines.
• Reinstate the company’s training schools, as well as offer an internet-based training program.