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ME Elecmetal Continues Duluth Casting Plant Expansion |
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Released on January 17, 2012
ME Elecmetal, Santiago, Chile, announced it will spend $12.2 million on an expansion at its metalcasting facility in Duluth, Minn., less than a year after completing a previous improvement at the facility.
According to Bill Grau, plant manager at the Duluth location, ME Elecmetal will add a third arc furnace and additional heat treating capacity to keep pace with the molding capacity increases resulting from the previous expansion. The investment is expected to yield a 30% capacity increase, bringing the plant to 160 metric tons per day.
“We went through a couple phases,” Grau said. “Last year, [we did] a $10 million expansion to eliminate bottlenecks, create more space, improve flow and lower our [work in process]. We had additional mold line capacity, but we couldn’t make any more metal. Everything we added last year was done with this in mind.”
In 2011, ME Elecmetal spent $23.4 million combined at its Duluth and Tempe, Ariz., metalcasting facilities. Grau said the expansions were performed in response to growing demand in the mining industry for the company’s mill liners.
“Mine sites are opening up everywhere, and everyone is running hard,” he said. “The third arc furnace is booked as soon as it comes onboard.”
Grau said the company has obtained permitting for the new equipment and is expecting the furnaces to be delivered by July. By October, the furnace and heat treating line are expected to be in full production.
“The marketing forecast is just exploding,” Grau said. “This was something we could do quickly and capitalize on it.”
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