Renamed Pennsylvania Foundry Expands it Sights

The longtime ITT Industries Goulds Pumps plant in Ashland, PA, is now Ashland Foundry and Machine Works, following a sale late last year to the owner of West Coast Foundry. Like Ashland Foundry, the Huntington Park, CA, operation produces castings in stainless steel and other high-value ferrous grades. The value of the sale has not been announced, but Ashland Foundry and Machine’s general manager Frank R. Hueske indicated that ITT’s decision to sell the Pennsylvania plant was driven by a strategy of reducing its manufacturing footprint. On the other hand, the sale allows Ashland to continue producing stainless steel components for pumps and compressors for ITT’s plant in Seneca Falls, NY, while expanding its customer base and growing its presence in the East Coast market for ferrous castings. The 250,000-ft ² Ashland, PA, plant employs about 180, which is a little over half the number of workers there in early 2009. However, Hueske reports that demand for ferrous castings has been building as 2010 proceeds. Chromium iron and all major ferrous grades are produced in six induction furnaces, and cast into flaskless and no-bake molds. Castings range in size from 25 to 7,000 lb, in chromium iron and all major ferrous grades. Castings can be finished on 36 different CNC machine centers; heat treating and annealing are available, too. In addition to its casting and finishing options, Ashland Foundry has patternmaking capability that gives it another optional service to the regional market.