Industry News

A new Pillar Induction furnace with 1-ton melting capacity has been installed at AFS Corporate Member Kimura Foundry America, Inc. (Shelbyville, Indiana). The addition enables Kimura to meet customer demand for heavier casting parts, particularly in the construction, agricultural machinery, power generation, oil & gas, pump and compressor industries. The foundry also expects to improve pouring efficiency and casting turnaround thanks to the high-capacity furnace’s ability to pour multiple parts simultaneously.

AFS Corporate Member The C.A. Lawton Co. (DePere, Wisconsin) has acquired Penn-Mar, a gray-and-ductile iron foundry in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Penn-Mar manufactures multicored, gray and ductile iron castings ranging from 150 to 5,000 lbs. Using an air-set, nobake molding process, it serves the refrigeration/air conditioning, pump/compressor, and motor/generator industries. 

IBC Advanced Alloys, Franklin, Indiana, is planning to invest more than $5 million to build and outfit a 32,000-square-feet copper casting facility on its current property, according to a Daily Journal report by Leeann Doerflein. Also known as Non Ferrous Products, Inc., IBC manufactures beryllium and copper advanced alloys parts for the defense, aerospace, automotive, telecommunications and precision manufacturing industries.

Lakeside Casting in Monroe City, Missouri, has announced plans to buy out the remaining $600,000 of its real estate lease with the city and expand this year, according to area’s local The Herald-Whig newspaper.

“My focus has always been on growing jobs,” Controlling Owner Chuck Mudd told reporter Forrest Gossett. “That’s the reason that we started this.” His company plans to build a new warehouse that will allow for manufacturing growth. 

Premier Engineered Products’ (PEP, Grand Rapids, Michigan), which owns Appalachian Cast Products (Abingdon, Virginia), has a new investor; Charter Growth Capital Fund (CGCF) has provided mezzanine debt in support of PEP’s recapitalization. Birmingham, Michigan-based Colfax Creek is the lead investor in the transaction. Colfax Creek and foundry veteran Mike Ryan, formed PEP in January 2019 to recapitalize Appalachian Cast Products (ACP) and integrate Premier Die Casting's production into its Abingdon facility.

Manitowoc county high school graduates planning to attend the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (UWGB) may have an opportunity for financial support through a new scholarship fund created by AFS Corporate Member Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry (WAF),

AFS Corporate Member Dotson Iron Castings, which supplies precision parts for farm machinery, heavy trucks, industrial equipment and the construction industry and more, is planning a major expansion of its Mankato, Minnesota plant, adding new meeting rooms, break areas, locker rooms and a rooftop patio.

AFS Corporate Member Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company (Charlotte, North Carolina) has selected AFS Corporate Member General Kinematics to provide the material handling system for its new state-of-the-art facility on 428 acres in Oakboro, North Carolina. Inside the new cast iron foundry, GK will have responsibility for the furnace charge system, as well as the equipment from the end of the molding line through the cleaning room. 

The last operating blast furnace at Bethlehem Steel’s Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, plant went cold on November 18, 1995. That’s when the Lehigh Valley company shuttered the “hot end” of the plant. They transitioned to bringing in steel made at other locations to be rolled into beams, rather than the integrated process used in Bethlehem for over 100 years. 

AFS Corporate Member TEMC Metal & Chemical Corp. (Taipei City, Taiwan) held a ceremony November 17 in Xizhou Chunghua, Taiwan, for the opening of its second plant and green foundry technology, an event attended by hundreds of foundry industry professionals, including Taiwan Foundry Society Chairman Lin-San Chen and Taiwan Casting Association Chairman Kuan-Chen Shiao. 

The mayor of Changhua County also participated. A seminar on green foundry issues was held during the afternoon. TEMC is a supplier of metallurgical foundry industry consumables.