Industry News

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.    
 

The Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF) is partnering with the Blue Ocean Student Pitch Competition––the alliance will help high school students interested in entrepreneurship learn more about metalcasting by creating an innovative pitch that focuses on foundry challenges in the 21st century. 

The Naval Foundry and Propeller Center (NFPC) in Philadelphia, a detachment of Norfolk Naval Shipyard and an AFS Corporate Member, made the first casting for a Columbia-Class submarine late this summer, weighing 200,000 lbs. NFPC is a Department of Defense manufacturing facility that specializes in advanced engineering, castings and precision machining that supports the mission of the U.S. Navy. 

AFS Corporate Member Waupaca Foundry, Inc. (Waupaca, Wisconsin), a Hitachi Metals group company, was awarded a 2020 Outstanding Supplier award from Cummins, Inc. The award recognizes suppliers that excelled in supplying parts to Cummins during the COVID-19 pandemic. It cites Waupaca Foundry for managing weekly production and parts delivery through proactive collaboration and communication, all while ensuring no line down or freight premium occurrences. 

Holding to its mantra of continuous reinvestment in the business despite the uncertainties of 2020, AFS Corporate Member Craft Pattern & Mold (Montrose, Minnesota) took delivery of three new Haas machines that will expand its ability to handle large tooling and secondary machining of castings. The company manufactures prototypes for plastic and metal parts as well as production tooling for a wide range of commercial and industrial applications.