Paulson Training Acquired by Private Equity–Owned Certus

Certus, a professional training and certification platform that is a portfolio company of Ridgemont Equity Partners, announced today the acquisition of family-owned Paulson Training. Founded by Plastics Hall of Fame member Don Paulson in 1981, Paulson Training is well-known in the industry as a provider of technical training and certification for plastics manufacturing and scientific injection molding. Since Don’s retirement, the company has been led by his children.

"We are adding a talented team that has revolutionized their industry, and we are excited to have them join our business-to-business portfolio of brands," said Holly Falcaro, executive vice president at Certus. "We see a very real opportunity to scale the Paulson business and leverage our joint capabilities to offer new and enhanced solutions to our learners."

Paulson Training’s approach has its origins in the observation that only four basic variables determine molded part properties — heat, pressure, flow, and cooling. The so-called teaching from the “plastics point of view” applied scientific molding principles that can produce expert molders in months instead of years, according to the Paulson Training website. More than 50,000 plastics professionals across 5,000 companies reportedly have been trained by the company.

Related:Plastics Hall of Fame to Induct 17 New Members at NPE in May

Paulson will continue to serve its customers through its current brand and services, including its popular Simtech simulation program, with the added support of the Certus platform, the company said in a news release on the Certus site.

Certus and Ridgemont said that they are actively seeking other acquisition candidates that are established leaders in the online training, education, certification, and compliance sectors.