. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inDustry neWs
McWane Idles Original, 89-Year-Old Ductile Iron Pipe Plant McWane Inc. announced it will idle
its Birmingham, Ala., ductile iron pipe casting plant, the company’s original, 89-year-old manufacturing facility. “Demand for waterworks products
has dropped by as much as 55%,” said Ruffner Page, president of McWane Inc. “The persistence of the downturn has left us no choice but to temporarily reduce our production capacity.” According to Page, McWane expects
Automotive supplier Federal-Mogul, Southfield, Mich., announced it has acquired the Daros Group, Sweden, a supplier of cast piston rings for large- bore engines used in industrial energy generation and commercial shipping. Federal-Mogul said the acquisition
(the terms of which were not dis- closed) would enhance its offerings by adding two-stroke and four-stroke
to restart the Birmingham plant “very soon.” The company said in a state- ment it would attempt to maintain the idled plant (the first facility built by J.R. McWane when he founded the com- pany in 1921) in a condition that will allow it to restart it quickly when eco- nomic and market conditions improve. Page said that while the Birming-
ham facility is idle, McWane will continue to operate its manufacturing
facilities in Utah, Ohio and New Jersey. The company also is working through inventory at the Birmingham plant. According to the McWane statement,
the idling of the plant will affect ap- proximately 117 workers. McWane employs 4,200 in the
U.S. and operates 25 manufacturing plants, including 13 ferrous casting facilities, in the U.S., Canada, Austra- lia and China.
METAL
Federal-Mogul Buys Piston Ring Caster Daros piston ring products to its portfolio. “The market for industrial engine
piston rings is growing,” said José Ma- ria Alapont, Federal-Mogul president and chief executive officer. Industrial piston rings are used
mainly in large engines with a power output up to more than 100,000 kW that power commercial ships like super tankers. The rings are made of cast iron,
machined and finished with wear resis- tant coatings. Piston rings seal the com- bustion chamber in the engine while the piston moves inside the cylinder. The Daros Group’s piston ring busi-
ness, which has operations in China, Germany and Sweden, adds approxi- mately 220 employees to Federal-Mo- gul’s operations, which employs nearly 41,000 people in 33 countries. METAL
July/August 2010
For Design engineers & PurchAsers
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