Ellwood Engineered Castings in Hubbard, OH, will be the site of a new secondary-aluminum casting operation, following a $60-million expansion project announced recently. The 70,000-sq.ft. Ellwood Aluminum plant will melt aluminum scrap in reverberatory furnaces, and then refine it to achieve the desired alloy composition before casting the semi-finished products.
The plant will cast aluminum slabs and round billets at a rate of 150 million lbs/year, for tool-and-die producers, aerospace forgers, plate mill rolling operations, and extrusion manufacturers.
“This significant investment clearly demonstrates Ellwood’s unwavering commitment to serve our customers and expand and develop new markets,” stated Ellwood Group chief operating officer Ben Huffman, chief operating officer, in a prepared statement. “We decided on Hubbard as the site of our new facility because of its location relative to our potential market, its exceptional workforce and the comprehensive incentive package and assistance provided at both the state and local levels.”
Ellwood Engineered Castings is a gray and ductile iron foundry producing ingot molds for steel and specialty steel ingot casting, some of which are supplied to Ellwood Quality Steels in New Castle, PA, one of several affiliated companies. It also casts large-scale iron parts, like pump housings and rotary parts.
Ellwood Group Inc. operates a series of steelmaking and forging businesses in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and Ontario.
Ellwood Engineered Castings now employs about 100, according to president Patrick F. Callihan. The new operations will employ 34 people.
The project has been in development for about three years and construction is expected to start during Q4 2018, pending Ohio EPA permits. Trumbull County (OH) commissioners approved a 60%, 10-year enterprise zone agreement for construction of the new plant.
Production of cast aluminum stock would begin early in 2020.