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Fast Heat Inc. was acquired by a current and former employee, who have moved the company from Elmhurst, Ill. to Elkhart, Ind., where the supplier of hot runner controllers and diagnostic product lines will remain known as Fast Heat but operate under the Spark Industries brand.

In December 2020, Chad Root, former general manager of the company, and Manny Diaz, its long-time production manager, acquired Fast Heat and moved its headquarters from its long-time Elmhurst, Ill. location to a new facility in Elkhart, Ind. It will operate with the Fast Heat name as part of Spark Industries, which was also started by Root and Diaz.

Root told Plastics Technology that he and Diaz, after a busy holiday break moving the company, are currently revamping Fast Heat’s supply chain, standardizing on more components to lower costs and lead times. In Elkhart, he said Fast Heat would also be keeping more spare parts inventory on hand, to shorten lead times for new orders and as well as replacement components. All of the company’s employees were retained, according to Root.

In the first quarter of 2021, Fast Heat will add a new HMI to its Pulse line of hot runner controllers, while in the second quarter, it plans to launch a modular controller, calling back to Fast Heat’s former Conductor line. Intended for low-cavitation molds, the modular line will target projects requiring from two to 12 zones.

In recent years, Fast Heat had shifted its sales focus from a rep network to direct sales. Root, who said the company utilized 28 rep firms when he was its general manager, is moving the company back to a rep model, adding 12 agencies since the acquisition. Among these is his own company, Root Industrial Sales, which he started in 2019 and which reps Wittmann Battenfeld, among others.