Ferrous foundry Betz Industries Inc. plans to invest $3.5-million to add finish machining capability at its operation in Walker, MI, near Grand Rapids. According to local reports, the company recently purchased 52 acres adjacent to its present 28-acre foundry operation. A new plant on the site will allow the metalcaster to bring its machining requirements in-house.
“We’ve always had our customers ask us to do machining, or for us to find outside machining sources for them,” co-owner Gregg Betz told MiBiz, a western Michigan business journal. “We’ve had a number of our customers that have asked us to do some of the 2D-type machining, especially at the bottoms of the castings.”
The specific machining capabilities to be adopted were not announced.
Betz Industries produces gray and ductile iron castings from 500 to 60,000 lbs., for automotive stamping dies, tool-and-die production, machine tools, industrial tooling, and wind-energy projects. In addition to metalcasting, the foundry produces its own patterns.
Pending local government approvals to the construction, Betz Industries aims to complete construction of a new, 41,280-sq.ft. building by late 2019. Gregg Betz further indicated the size of the property acquired would accommodate further expansion, but offered no detail.
For now, the plan for the new building “is just going to be for machining castings. That’s all we’re looking to do at this point in time,” he told the journal.