On September 18th, 2007, Chicago-based Illinois Tool Works (ITW) purchased Avery Berkel, the retail weighing division of Avery Weigh-Tronix, after being impressed by its strong global brand reputation, high European market share and exciting growth plans, which have already seen the business increase by 15% in the last two years.

The new company will trade as Avery Berkel and operate from its existing manufacturing base in Birmingham, UK and North American Headquarters located in Fairmont MN, with further manufacturing facilities in the Far East. The business will employ around 300 people in the UK and a further 150 worldwide, all of whom joined the company on September 18th.

For over 200 years, Avery has supplied a broad range of weighing equipment to meet the demands of both the industrial and retail sectors. Now, with the separation of the two businesses, Avery Berkel has become a dedicated retail solutions company, focused solely on delivering fresh food weighing systems, software, food equipment and services to its retail customers worldwide.

Commenting on the sale, new managing director, John Watson, formerly director of Avery Berkel UK and Avery Berkel North America said, "Avery Berkel is already a profitable business with significant market share and the sale will deliver even more prospects for growth. With the backing of a proven development-based owner, our product engineers can now concentrate on what they do best - designing the most innovative product ranges aimed at maximizing our customers' profitable fresh food businesses. We now have an aggressive product development program in place, which commences with two major scale launches in October this year."

John Watson continues, "Avery Berkel is now considered a market-leading manufacturer of retail scales and software for both the independent and multiple sectors. This expertise in developing fresh food weighing solutions has led to many of Europe's major retailers choosing us as their preferred supplier, including Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Carrefour, Lion Delhaize, Asda and Auchan alongside thousands of high-street butchers, fishmongers and convenience stores.

In 2000, we introduced the world’s-first Windows-based PC scale, success that we have continued to build on. In the last 18 months alone, we have seen unprecedented 500% growth in our pre-pack division, following the launch of a new fresh food wrapping system. With the backing of our new parent company, the future is looking very promising."

Illinois Tool Works (ITW) is a publicly-traded company and a diversified manufacturer of engineered products and speciality systems. It has approximately 750 operations in 49 countries, which are organized into four segments, namely, Engineered Products – North America, Engineered Products – International, Speciality Systems, North America and Speciality Systems – International.