. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inDustry neWs
GM to Invest Another $200 Million in Defiance and Bedford Casting Plants General Motors, Detroit, announced
it plans to spend $890 million on the production of its Generation 5 engines, with $225 million going to plants with metalcasting capabilities. The statement comes two months
after GM announced an approximately $500 million investment in its new Ecotec engines. GM’s Defiance, Ohio, metalcasting facility, which received $59 million in the Ecotec investment, will receive another $115 million for the production of the new engine’s cylinder blocks and crankshafts. GM’s
Thresher Industries Inc., Hanford,
Bedford, Ind., facility will receive $111 million to produce the Generation 5 cylinder heads. According to a GM press release, the
casting facility investments will allow expansion of Defiance’s precision sand and Bedford’s semi-permanent mold casting technologies to accommodate the new production. “GM is investing in our plants,
restoring and creating jobs and making progress toward our vision of designing, building and selling the world’s best vehicles,” said
Mark Reuss, president of GM North America. “These latest investments show our commitment to improving fuel economy for buyers of every GM car, truck and crossover.” The balance of the $890 million investment will go to the compo- nents plant in Bay City, Mich., and assembly plants in Tonawanda, N.Y., and St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada. The investments are expected to create or retain more than 1,600 jobs, including 189 at Defiance and 245 at Bedford.
METAL
Thresher Industries Sells to Unidentified Investor “As of March 16, the board decid-
Calif., announced in February it ac- cepted a proposal for purchase by an undisclosed investor. The company, which has reported a
flurry of activity in the past six months, including winning several new busi- ness contracts and hiring new em- ployees, will be sold for an offer price of $0.01 for any and all outstanding shares. The sale closed in April.
Tyler Pipe, Tyler, Texas, recently
won a contract to supply all of the pipe that will be used in the con- struction of the new World Trade Center building in New York City, ac- cording to several company sources. According to the company’s group
safety and health compliance direc- tor Jeffrey Willman, Tyler Pipe has added a “We Will Never Forget 9-11- 01” logo to the center of the pipe that will be used on the ninth, tenth and eleventh floors of the new build- ing, which is in the process of being constructed. In an article posted to Tyler Pipe’s website, Pat Baldwin explained the logos. “The ninth, tenth and eleventh
floors of the Freedom Tower [are] the largest…to be rebuilt,” read the article. “There was a considerable amount of pride, along with some extra painstaking detail, that went into the production of these few bundles of pipe (13 in all).” Tyler Pipe is owned by ductile pipe, valve and fitting conglomerate
8 Metal Casting Design & PurChasing
Tyler Pipe was contracted to supply the pipe used in the new World Trade Center. Pipes with the special inscription shown here will go on the ninth, tenth and eleventh floors.
McWane Inc., Birmingham, Ala. The subsidiary produces cast iron soil pipe and couplings out of metalcast-
ing facilities in Texas and Pennsyl- vania and coupling/gasket plants in Missouri and California.
METAL May/June 2010
ed to initiate procedures to finalize the sale of the company in an accel- erated manner,” said Tom Flessner, Thresher chief executive officer. According to a company press
release, on March 9, Thresher re- ceived a proposal to purchase the company. The proposition was later approved and disclosed preceding the company’s board of directors
special meeting. The board’s re- ported opinion was that the offer was acceptable and included a proposed settlement that exceeded the current market price range. Thresher is a manufacturer of alu-
minum and metal matrix composite die castings. The company serves a variety of industries, including agriculture, aerospace, defense, transportation and automotive.
METAL Tyler Pipe Wins Contract on New World Trade Center
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