“Our people realize it’s not just a nameless entity we are selling to,” said Mike Whitfield, vice president of manufacturing, regarding the Lodge employees’ pride in the cookware. “When it’s out of the plant, it’s going to a person or a store they know.”
customer service call we would get was about seasoning. The younger generation didn’t know how.” Consumers wanted the cast iron pan their
grandma used, but that deep black look and nonstick properties didn’t come until after years of use. Lodge’s seasoning process, in which the plain castings are sprayed with oil and put through a custom oven, produces cast iron cookware with that desirable dark, nonstick surface right out of the box. Cast iron cookware is inexpensive. When
the economy is down, eating out is a luxury many cannot afford, which has helped lead to cast iron pans’ popularity. Plus, TV cooking shows have started showcasing dishes made in cast iron cookware. “There’s a social aspect.” Lodge said.
“Cooking is part of the entertainment, and people seem to enjoy working together to prepare a meal. It’s working for us.”
MELTING POINT
Lodge Manufacturing saw the popularity
of cast iron was growing and knew it needed to start planning for an expansion to meet the demand. “We saw it coming,” Lodge said. Preliminary planning began in 2009. At the
time, Lodge was producing all its cookware on high speed automatic molding machines. The company knew it wanted, at the very least, another machine that would make two 12-in. skillets in a mold, and that it would need to add capacity to handle the increase in melting and sand use. The addition had to be made without shutting down the plant. Customers wanted so many cast iron pans, the metalcasting facility could not afford to stop making them while the new machines were being added to the plant. “To get an increase in capacity, we had to
increase everything,” Lodge said. “We basi- cally built a foundry attached to our existing foundry.”
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