AFT Acquired by Datacor to Enhance and Expand Engineering Solutions
Colorado Springs, CO USA – November 28, 2023 -- Applied Flow Technology Corporation (AFT) has been acquired by Datacor, Inc of Florham Park, New Jersey, USA. The acquisition occurred in August 2023. It is a mutually beneficial decision and both companies are eager to enhance the engineering solutions AFT develops to help engineers around the world design safer, more efficient, and more reliable piping systems.
AFT’s Founder, Trey Walters, is well-known in the hydraulic flow community for being a leading expert in pipe flow analysis. In recent years he has emerged as a leading authority in transient analysis of water hammer and steam hammer. His work earned him recognition as a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME) in 2019, and he continues to publish and present detailed technical papers to educate international audiences on these phenomena.
What Prompted the Acquisition?
In early 2023, Trey decided to look towards reducing his workload and ensuring AFT’s continuity in the long term. He extensively evaluated a multitude of offers to purchase the pipe flow company he started in his basement in 1993. He wanted his life’s work to be honored, as well as the 21 employees and international Channel Partner relationships.
Trey states, “When I created AFT Fathom 30 years ago, I set AFT on the path of being a trailblazer and technology leader. On a deeply personal level, it is important to me that AFT’s hard-earned global reputation for excellence in our products and service be maintained for our customers. Equally important is making sure the great team at AFT has a promising future filled with opportunities for professional growth.”
Who is Datacor?
Datacor is a leading provider of process manufacturing, chemical simulation, asset tracking, lab formulation and chemical distribution software that helps professionals maximize productivity, use data as a competitive advantage and drive smarter business growth. Founded in 1981, Datacor has over 300 employees and is headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey.
AFT’s addition to the Datacor family strengthens Datacor’s existing engineering simulation software portfolio. In 2021, Datacor acquired Chemstations, a company that provides process simulation software called CHEMCAD. Used by chemical engineers to design, test and optimize chemical processes, CHEMCAD is designed to drive productivity, accomplish day-to-day tasks, and tackle the toughest chemical process models.
What Does AFT’s Future Look Like?
AFT is, and will continue to be, the AFT you’ve always known. AFT’s international Channel Partner network will remain intact and will most likely grow with the additional resources from the Datacor network. AFT’s users, the quality of their products, and the dependability of the calculations will remain the company's top priority.
“Joining the Datacor family of solutions is the right choice for AFT to achieve the goals on which AFT has set its sights,” Trey adds, “I am not going anywhere. I plan to work many more years to continue to grow AFT’s product and provide maximum value to customers.”
Learn more about Datacor at www.datacor.com.
Helpful Questions and Answers
1. Who is Datacor:
Datacor is a provider of software solutions to process manufacturers around the globe. Founded in 1981, Datacor helps professionals maximize productivity, use data as a competitive advantage, and drive smarter business decisions through software solutions and expertise. Datacor has over 300 employees and is headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey. They are a US-owned and operated company that is familiar with the global reach of engineering products.
Datacor primarily offers ERP, CRM, simulation, asset tracking, lab formulation and distribution software for manufacturers and distributors in the process manufacturing space.
2. Why did AFT Choose Datacor?
In early 2023, AFT Founder, Trey Walters, decided to look towards reducing his workload and ensuring AFT’s continuity in the long term. He had a lot of options, but many meant being purchased by larger companies who didn’t share his passion for people and the engineering community.
Datacor felt different. The conversations, the philosophies, and the people all made sense. While Datacor has acquired several other companies, their commitment to employees and products stayed intact. To date, no products nor employees have been eliminated due to acquisitions.
It has been the exact opposite. They have created new jobs and invested in the products to enhance and advance acquired companies in their respective markets.
3. They may be a good company, but do they understand engineers?
Yes, not only does Datacor’s leadership have backgrounds in engineering, but Datacor entered the engineering simulation space with the acquisition of Chemstations in 2021, which is used by chemical engineers to design, test and optimize chemical processes. Because of the similarities between AFT’s customers and Chemstations’ customers, it made a lot of sense for Datacor to acquire AFT to add value to both companies' capabilities.
4. What does this mean for AFT?
No products nor employees will be replaced. Datacor wants to keep current employees satisfied and allow them to continue executing the company’s mission. Their goal is to grow AFT, and they understand that they need the employees to make this possible.
AFT will work with Datacor to discuss how to build bridges in 2024 between both Datacor and Chemstations, but any changes will be carefully evaluated. Our users, the quality of our products, and the dependability of the calculations are the top priority.
AFT is, and will continue to be the AFT you’ve always known, only now with access to larger resources. This means we now can strengthen development and internal process goals in ways not previously possible.
5. How will this affect how I use the products?
The products will remain the same. There may be a few small changes in license delivery and support tickets, but the overall customer experience will not decrease. Datacor is committed to investing in the product to create more value for our customers. We will continue to leverage your feedback in our product development cycle, and hope to deliver more features and better functionality.
6. Will you force me to go on a new product?
Customers will be supported on their current software products without requiring them to upgrade to a newer product.
7. Will AFT retain Channel Partners?
Absolutely! We value our international relationships and many of our Channel Partners have been with AFT for over 20 years. If you work with one of our valued Channel Partners, your relationship will remain intact. Chemstations (mentioned in point three) also has relationships around the world with Channel Partners. Datacor has no intention of running all engineering software simulation operations solely out of the US.
Channel Partner’s feedback and input on the development of features and capabilities is crucial for our products. We don’t just help engineers design piping and ducting systems in the United States, we work with thousands of engineers around the world.
AFT is excited that we will now have the opportunity to work with additional Channel Partners in countries we currently do not have a presence in.
8. Will AFT outsource support?
We pride ourselves on having exceptional support. Our Support team is one of the best, and we will continue to use AFT staff to deliver world-class, dedicated support, documentation, and training materials.
9. How will the payments and accounting process change?
Beginning in January 2024, direct AFT customers payments will be remitted to a different address and ACH bank account. Certs and Rep forms from your purchasing departments for new software purchases or annual Support, Upgrade, and Maintenance Agreements (SUM) will be completed by Datacor.
AFT’s sales and accounting teams will help guide this process to ensure a smooth transition. Look out for more information soon.
Payments to Channer Partners will remain unchanged.
10. Is there someone that I can talk to about this acquisition?
More information will be available as AFT is aware of it in the coming months. For specialized concerns regarding AFT software and your projects, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..