Industry News

The Michigan Manufacturers Association announced Eagle Alloy (Muskegon, Michigan) has been selected as the 2018 recipient of the John G. Thodis Michigan Manufacturer of the Year Award. The award honors the important, positive and tangible contributions individual manufacturers make to their employees, customers and communities. The Eagle Alloy team received the award during the 2018 MFG Excellence Awards on November 8 at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing.

AFS Corporate Member Busche Performance Group (Southfield, Michigan) announced it has secured $150 million with the completion of a senior secured credit facility.

Along with previously announced equity infusion from its shareholder group, BPG has now completed its planned capital structure.

The AFS/Metal Casting Design & Purchasing 2019 Casting Competition will have four new categories this year.

Along with an all-around Casting of the Year winner, winners in the following categories will be recognized:

- Newcomer (Rookie of the Year)

- Best Example of a Casting Conversion

- Achievement in a Small Foundry Business

- Best Innovation/Prototype

Entries are due Jan. 31, 2019. The form can be found here.

AFS Corporate Member EJ hosted a private open house for its new greenfield foundry in Warner Township, near Elmira, Michigan.

In a news release, the company said “the new (facility) will allow EJ, previously known as East Jordan Iron Works, Inc., to remain competitive, grow the business, and retain 340 jobs in Northern Michigan.”

Waupaca, Wisconsin-area employees of AFS Corporate Member Waupaca Foundry, a Hitachi Metals company, will be able to participate in a program designed to make healthcare easier to access.

Waupaca Foundry will partner with ThedaCare to staff a dedicated medical clinic for foundry team members and their families located in the Specialty Care Clinic in ThedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca.

Care at the clinic will be free to foundry employees and retirees, and their dependents.

AFS Corporate Member Dotson Iron Castings (Mankato, Minnesota) has received the Made in Minnesota Manufacturing Award in Community Impact from Minnesota Business magazine.

The award recognized Dotson for its treatment of employees and commitment to the community during its recovery from a fire.

“When our values were put to the test, it was easy to just do what we knew was right and stand by our employees,” said Liz Ulman, vice president, while accepting the award.

The U.S. defense industrial base has serious supply chain deficiencies, according to a report just issued by the Trump Administration. The 250 supply chain risks covered in the report include metal castings for military applications.

The study, “Assessing And Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States,” warns that if the supply chain risks are not fixed quickly, the Pentagon faces “limited capabilities, insecurity of supply, lack of R&D, program delays, and an inability to surge in times of crisis”

After pouring molten metal during the American Foundry Society’s Manufacturing Day open house, a student had a predictable reaction.
 
“This is really cool,” he said.
 
Students from close by AFS headquarters and from the South Side of Chicago agreed.
 

AFS Corporate Member Caterpillar Inc. announced it will locate a casting facility in Greenwood County, South Carolina. According to a news release, the company is investing $13.5 million and will create 85 new jobs.

Caterpillar has purchased an existing 103,000-square-foot building in Hodges, South Carolina, and the facility is expected to come online in early 2019. The plant will produce specialty castings used in a variety of engines and transmissions within the Caterpillar product line and will supplement the production of existing castings elsewhere in the company.