Baldwin Technology Company has created a new division called AMS Spectral UV following its acquisition of LED UV specialist Air Motion Systems.

The merged unit - part of the Barry-Wehmiller US$2+ billion group - will combine AMS with Baldwin's UV division, with operations in River Falls (Wisconsin), Easton (Pennsylvania) and Slough (UK).

Baldwin acquired technology from Nordson - and UK-based Spectral/Wallace Knight - in 2010, scoring its first newspaper UV installations with a $750,000 order covering Fairfax Media's North Richmond and Canberra, Australia, sites the following year.

AMS Spectral UV president Steve Metcalf says the merger marks the beginning of a new era in providing high-performance solutions for the UV industry: "We're bringing the top industry minds, technology and experience together to tap an unprecedented opportunity in LED and UV, and to serve an ever-widening range of markets and applications."

The wide variety of UV LED market applications is projected to grow to US$1 billion-plus worldwide in the next five years, according to market intelligence provider Yole Development. Baldwin says it aims to capture a large share of this by leveraging its scale and resources.

AMS LED UV has become a leader in sheetfed offset and flexo packaging, and claims an installed base almost ten times that of its nearest competitor. Interest in web-fed applications is in its early stages, and may be eclipsed by applications outside traditional print markets.

Commercial leader Pat Keogh says the move will double research and development, engineering, manufacturing capacity and service.

Barry-Wehmiller's Forsyth Capital Investors acquired Baldwin in 2012, adding colour automation developer Web Printing Controls to the group in 2014.