Petmin USA, a subsidiary of South African company Petmin, is planning to build a new pig iron plant in Ashtabula, Ohio.
Bradley Doig, president and CEO of Petmin USA, told the Star Beacon the proposed $474 million facility would be Petmin’s first in the U.S. The proposed plant would produce nodular pig iron, which is used in castings for automotive, aerospace, rail, construction, and other industries.
CEO Kevin Brown has bought Omaha Steel Castings (Wahoo, Nebraska).
According to the Lincoln Journal-Star, Brown purchased the company from Allan Lozier. Brown had been running the company since June 2014.
“I am very appreciative of the confidence shown in me by Allan with this sale,” Brown said in a news release. “His belief in and support of Omaha Steel has been critical over these last four years.”
According to local newspaper and broadcast reports, Doncasters Southern Tool (Oxford, Alabama) is planning on adding at least 50 jobs through a $4.7 million expansion of its plant that also saw equipment upgrades.
The Anniston Star reported that the Oxford (Alabama) City Council approved a $93,700 property tax abatement for the company. That action was taken in December.
St. Paul Foundry has been awarded certification to AS9100 Rev D by Orion Registrar, Inc. AS9100D is a comprehensive quality management system (QMS) certification that qualifies St. Paul Foundry to supply cast components for advanced military and aerospace applications.
St. Paul Foundry is a 150-year-old manufacturer of brass, bronze and aluminum cast components.
In December, Clinkenbeard relocated to a 40,000-sq.-ft. facility in South Beloit, Illinois. The new facility is twice as big as the previous facility, and includes space for engineering, machining, a mechanical mockup build shop, and a foundry pattern shop.
In addition, several upgrades to the business have recently been made. The company recently installed a DMG Mori 5-axis milling center and a DMG Mori turning center.
Nucor Corporation (Charlotte, North Carolina) announced it is acquiring Corporacion POK, S.A. de C.V. (POK), a fully integrated precision castings company with a facility in Guadalajara, Mexico. POK produces complex castings and precision machined products used by the oil and gas, mining and sugar processing industries.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced AFS Corporate Member Waupaca Foundry, a Hitachi Metals company, plans to expand in the city of Ironwood. According to a news release, the project is expected to generate an investment of $4.3 million and create 61 jobs.
During the G-20 talks held over the weekend in Argentina, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to halt new tariffs and not increase tariffs already in place.
The U.S. had been scheduled to increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10% to 25% on Jan. 1. The agreement keeps those tariffs on thousands of products, including hundreds of types of Chinese castings at 10% for at least the next 90 days while the countries negotiate further.
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.
In conjunction with Manufacturing Day, AFS Corporate Member Hunter Foundry Machinery Corp. (Schaumburg, Illinois) donated $5,000 to nearby Harper College’s manufacturing technology program. The program’s main objective is to decrease the shortage of skilled labor.
“The shortage of skilled labor is by no means a recent issue. A decline in skilled trades workers became apparent in 2012 and has continued to present difficulties for the manufacturing community,” the company said in a news release.