Standard Alloys Inc., a Texas ferrous foundry and machining group specializing in pumps and compressors, has expanded with a new workshop in Deer Park, TX, near Houston, adding capacity to its pump repair operations in Vidor and Port Arthur, TX and Port Allen, LA. The business supports oil and gas refining, chemical manufacturing, power industries, and water management industries, engineering, manufacturing and repairing pumps and related parts.
According to managing director Richard Martinez, "Having comprehensive manufacturing facilities located in Southeast Texas that includes a full foundry capable of pouring more than 300 different alloys, means that we can manufacture many core pump components in-house with a very short lead time."
The Standard Alloys foundry is in Port Arthur. At Deer Park, the new 15,000-sq.ft. shop represents the latest step in what is described as a $1-billion investment by parent company KSB AG to extend its coverage of the U.S. pumps and compressors market. The new shop includes machine tools, lathes, a specialized rotor balancing center rated to 5,000lbs, five- and ten-ton cranes, and pump disassembly and assembly areas.
In addition, the shop is outfitted as a repair center, capable of reverse-engineering pumps and compressor products with 3D measurement, modeling, and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) capabilities.
The operation also includes over twenty machine tools, including vertical turret lathes, radial arm drill presses, engine lathes, horizontal boring mills, and dynamic balancing machines.
"We can make the parts needed for a pump repair whether they require fabrication, casting, and or machining,” according to Martinez. “This means that our customers know where their parts are manufactured and are welcome to come witness throughout the process. It's simply a matter of reverse engineering the parts, making a pattern, and pouring a casting."
Standard Alloys is a subsidiary of by KSB AG, the manufacturer of industrial pumps and valves that also counts GIW Industries, a centrifugal pump manufacturer among its holdings. GIW recently opened a new iron, steel, and stainless steel foundry in Grovetown, GA.
Reportedly, KSB has a strategy to extend its U.S. service network, in particular in the Gulf Coast industrial market, which prompted the acquisition of Standard Alloys in 2010.