The sibling owners of Tonkawa Foundry, Inc., (TFI) Tonkawa, Oklahoma, have sold their family business to Mauricio and Alhena Torres, who assumed ownership January 1. The couple has relocated from Dallas with their four-year-old daughter, Paloma.
Having operated the foundry for over 40 years, Sandy Salisbury Linton and Jim Salisbury said they’re pleased the company will remain a family-owned business.
AFS Corporate Member Farrar Corporation will be installing a new molding line this spring to increase capacity and improve efficiency at its ductile iron sand casting operation in Norwich, Kansas.
The $3.7 million investment also includes replacing the General Kinematics Vibradrum with a GK media drum. The new molding line is the FBO-IIIS 20 x 24 from Robert Sinto Corporation and will provide the foundry a faster mold cycle, deeper draw, and reduced maintenance costs. The investment is part of a phased approach to make more castings with tighter quality and process controls.
In the last two months of 2021, AFS Corporate Member Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Co. acquired two local properties for a combined $13.85 million, according to a report from the Charlotte Business Journal.
Novelis, based in Atlanta, will move into Phase 2 expansion of its recently-opened operation in Todd County, Kentucky. The aluminum producer and recycler is investing about $365 million to construct a new recycling center that will create 140 jobs for local residents, according to reporting by ABC 36, WTVQ.
AFS Corporate Member Norican Group, home to DISA, ItalPresseGauss, StrikoWestofen and Wheelabrator, has signed its commitment letter to the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). By signing up to emissions reduction and net zero journeys under the initiative, the company has committed to setting ambitious global targets for the emission of greenhouse gases.
AFS Corporate Member REFCOTEC, Inc. (Orrville, Ohio) has purchased the assets of EXOCHEM Corp, a supplier of riser sleeves and other consumable products to the foundry and steel industries since 1968. The ISO-certified company operates production facilities in Lorain, Ohio, and in East Palestine, Ohio. The acquisition follows REFCOTEC’s strategic goal of continuing to diversify within the foundry segment with a focus on high quality, efficient manufacturing.
The Lawton Standard Co. recently added the facilities and employees of QESC (Quality Electric Steel Castings, Houston, Texas) to its growing casting business. The new site will operate as a sister operation to The C.A. Lawton Co., De Pere, Wisconsin; The C.A. Lawton Co., Minster, Ohio; Temperform, LLC, Novi, Michigan; and Penn-Mar Castings, LLC, Hanover, Pennsylvania. Each company will access the other’s products and benefit from adopting best practices across the family.
AFS Corporate Member Benton Foundry (Benton, Pennsylvania) was awarded a $3 million grant through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP), according to Senator John R. Gordner (R-27) and Representative David Millard (R-109).
The company’s footprint will expand by 70,000 sq.ft. and new robotic equipment will be installed. This will result in at least 50 new jobs and a rise in daily production to 200 tons, an increase of 50 tons per day.
Industrial Opportunity Partners has sold AFS Corporate Member Aarrowcast Inc. to Charter Manufacturing, a producer of carbon-steel bar, rod, and wire products headquartered in Mequon, Wisconsin. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
General Motors is planning a $51 million upgrade at its aluminum die casting foundry in southern Indiana to support manufacturing of the upcoming electric Chevrolet Silverado pickup.
GM said it will install state-of-the-art equipment at its sprawling Bedford plant, which this year began producing electric drive unit castings for the 2022 GMC Hummer EV Pickup and 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV, The Herald-Times reported.
Production of the 2022 GMC Hummer EV Pickup will begin in December at GM’s Factory ZERO assembly plant, located in Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan.