Articles: Industry News

AFS Corporate Member Waupaca Foundry has expanding production capabilities at Plant 1 located in Waupaca, Wisconsin, adding horizontal molding to existing vertical molding capabilities––installation on the new line began in February. To mark its new capabilities, the foundry held a “first pour” event on April 18.

General Motors named Ryobi Die Casting (USA), Inc. as a 2022 Supplier of the Year, which recognizes global suppliers that distinguish themselves by exceeding the automaker’s requirements and enabling it to provide customers with innovative technologies and high quality products. GM celebrated this fourth-time winner and all its honorees at its 31st annual Supplier of the Year event in San Antonio, Texas.

Wisconsin-based Winsert, a global advanced manufacturer of critical metal parts for Fortune 500 OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, has acquired Alloy Cast Products, Inc. (ACP), an investment casting and machining manufacturer of exotic cobalt alloys headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey. 

Signicast, a Form Technologies company, will celebrate the opening of its latest investment casting facility in October. Milwaukee Finishing Complex (MFC) will round out the family of Signicast locations in the Milwaukee area, expanding secondary operations and other finishing services while acting as an extension of the Hartford and Brown Deer facilities.

McWane Ductile Ohio––part of the McWane, Inc. family of companies––has announced a $45 million total investment in its Coshocton County plant. Its investment has more than doubled since the initial $21.5-million collaboration was finalized with JobsOhio, the Ohio Department of Development, Ohio Southeast Economic Development (OhioSE) and the Coshocton County Port Authority, including a 1.372%, six-year Job Creation Tax Credit from the Ohio Tax Credit Authority. 

Shinhwa Auto USA Corp. is adding a second auto parts manufacturing facility in Auburn, Alabama, as part of a $78 million growth project that will create 42 jobs over the next three years. The company will build a new 400,000-sq.-ft. factory across from its existing location in Auburn Technology Park West. 

The Lawton Standard Co. has recently added Northern Iron & Machine (NIM) located in St. Paul, Minn., to the Lawton Standard family as part of its expansion strategy. NIM produces and machines high-quality gray, ductile, and austempered iron castings up to 250 lbs. This adds to The Lawton Standard Co.’s offerings by both size and method. This will benefit both Lawton and NIM customers with expanded sourcing options.

On July 29, TRM Equity II, a Michigan-based private equity fund, acquired all of the equity of AFS Corporate Member WDC Acquisition LLC, known as Wellman Dynamics (Wellman), which is located in Creston, Iowa, and employs about 350 people. The 100-year-old aerospace supplier manufactures large scale, complex magnesium and aluminum castings for the defense and commercial aerospace markets. 

AFS Corporate Member Buck Co. Inc., in conjunction with its parent company, The Dixon Group, has acquired Richmond Foundry, LLC, a 50-year-old AFS Corporate Member in Dayton, New Jersey, that produces high-quality brass and bronze sand castings. Richmond’s 40,000-sq.-ft. facility adds capacity and capabilities that will benefit both companies’ customers.  

This spring, Bob Swenson, former owner of AmeriTi Manufacturing, launched a new company in Detroit, TriTech Titanium Parts, which, he said, produces net shape titanium parts using the most appropriate technology for the part and the customer––and is backed with a fully domestic supply chain. 

TriTech’s array of three production technologies includes 3D binder jet printing, metal injection molding, and investment casting. The 3D printing is its latest addition, featuring a binder jet process for producing complex titanium parts.