July 7, 2006 -- Wheelabrator Group will supply five blast-cleaning machines to the new Technocast foundry in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, a joint venture of Caterpillar Inc. and Cifunsa. It will produce 90,000 metric tons/year of engine blocks and cylinder heads.

Cifunsa is a Grupo Industrial Saltillo subsidiary and one of the world’s largest producers of gray-iron engine blocks and heads. It also produces gray- and ductile-iron exhaust manifolds, crankshafts, bearing caps, bedplates, calipers, brackets, and steering knuckles.

Wheelabrator, which recently opened a regional subsidiary for sales and service in Monterrey, Mexico, estimated that the Technocast order is worth about $4.8 million. According to Wheelabrator Group CEO Robert Joyce, “The Mexico office is the next step in our global geographic expansion plans. The Monterrey office enables us to meet the needs of our rapidly expanding customer base in Mexico. It is also part of our broader Wheelabrator Plus strategy of providing local, responsive parts and service support to our equipment customers throughout the world, regardless of where their equipment was shipped from."

Wheelabrator designs, manufactures, and supplies wheelblast, airblast and mass finishing equipment for surface preparation and cleaning, and serves a variety of sectors, including the aerospace and automotive industries.

Technocast is scheduled for a first pour this summer, and to start producing cast engine parts by summer 2007.

In May, Technocast placed an order with Simpson Technologies for sand-preparation systems for its molding lines.