Industry News

AFS Corporate Member Mueller Water Products Inc. is planning to build a new, state-of-the-art foundry in Decatur, Illinois, according to a news release.

Skuld LLC (Columbus, Ohio) received a Small Business Innovative Research grant from the Department of Energy (DOE). The grant will be used to show going to 0.060-in. thick ductile iron can be done without negatively impacting automobile properties.

Skuld’s most recent trials reduced the weight of designs by 70% and material costs by 40%.  This is of interest to the DOE due to increasing fuel efficiency standards. 

By 2025, the corporate average fuel efficiency standards are supposed to rise to 54.5 mpg, up from 35.

AFS Corporate Member ASK Chemicals, a supplier of foundry chemicals, announced it entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the industrial resin business from SI Group (New York).  ASK Chemicals and SI Group have agreed on the purchase of SI Group’s industrial resins business and associated manufacturing sites in Rio Claro, Brazil; Ranjangaon, India; Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa, as well as licensed technology and multiple tolling agreements globally. The transaction is expected to close later this year.

AFS Corporate Member Waupaca Foundry, a Hitachi Metals company, opened its manufacturing plant in Ironwood, Michigan.

The facility will process castings produced in Waupaca, Wisconsin. The facility is expected to create 61 new jobs and an investment of $4.3 million and covers 50,000 sq. ft.

The University of Northern Iowa’s Additive Manufacturing Center, located at TechWorks (Waterloo, Iowa) hosted a three-day camp for Cedar Valley students interested in STEM.

Focusing on a “Jurassic Park” dinosaur theme, Panther Park 3D was one of many camps offered by the STEM program at UNI and granted students the opportunity to broaden and develop their STEM interests and skills with an immersive 3D printing and design experience involving dinosaurs.

AFS Corporate Member Victaulic (Easton, Pennsylvania) has purchased Globe Fire Sprinkler ( Standish, Michigan).

“The addition of Globe’s fire protection sprinkler volume and engineering capabilities will provide the scale and skills necessary to be a true leader in all aspects of the fire protection industry," Victaulic CEO John F. Malloy said.

Steven Worthington, who will serve as president of Globe Fire Protection, echoed that excitement.

Allegheny Technologies Incorporated announced it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its cast products business to Consolidated Precision Products Corp. (Cleveland).

CPP operates 16 global facilities manufacturing products primarily for the aerospace, defense and industrial industries and is a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm. The transactionis expected to close in the early part of the third quarter 2019.

Lightweight Innovations For Tomorrow (LIFT), a national manufacturing innovation institute operated by the American Lightweight Materials Innovation Institute (ALMMII), announced it is loaning its tilt-pour casting machine to Michigan Technological University to enhance teaching and research at the school’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Foundry.

Speyside Foundry Holdings (Ann Arbor, Michigan), a portfolio company of Speyside Equity Fund I LP, announced the acquisition of AFS Corporate Member Weatherly Casting and Machine Company (Weatherly, Pennsylvania) and Hazleton Casting Company (Hazleton, Pennsylvania).

Both transactions were completed June 12.