Foseco to Close Lost-Foam Pattern Plant

Foseco will close the Guelph, ON, plant, where its Foseco-Morval division manufactures expandable polystyrene patterns for lost-foam foundries. The location also houses administrative offices and a warehouse for Foseco Canada Inc.’s Foundry and Steel divisions.

In a statement, Foseco indicated Foseco-Morval will cease operations on October 31 and the Foseco Canada warehouse will close at year’s end.

Foseco is a division of the Cookson Group that supplies metalcasting and steelmaking consumables, including molten-metal conditioning, filtration, and flow-control products. Its foundry product lines include feeding systems, filters, metal treatments, inoculants, fluxes, and sand binders.

Foseco-Morval uses self-designed molding and assembly equipment to produce complex geometries and multiple-segment patterns in several polymers, exclusively for the lost-foam foundry sector.

“The plan to discontinue the operations of Foseco-Morval in Guelph represents a very difficult decision based on a sharp decline in the market for lost foam castings and a corresponding reduction in revenue,” stated Foseco-Morval division president and CEO Brian Alquist. “We are looking to consolidate operations in Canada in an effort to remain competitive in a tough North American market.”

Almquist emphasized that “Foseco-Morval customers will continue to receive excellent service while we are in negotiations with another lost foam company to seamlessly transfer our Guelph operations to a new location. We are also developing a plan to relocate the Foundry and Steel warehouse to a location that is convenient to the current customer base of Eastern Canada.”