Engineering a Fresh Start


108-year-old Omaha Steel Castings Company built a brand new facility and changed ownership to enable growth and survival in the decades to come. NICHOLAS LEIDER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR


I


n an industry that prides itself on tradition and history, the Omaha Steel Castings Company (OSCC) of 2010 looked a little


too much like the OSCC of 1970. Te company was on the same land it had been since it opened in 1906. Te facility, which included a green sand operation and two nobake molding lines, was spread out over six buildings on 10 acres. Once on the outskirts of downtown Omaha, the facility had been enveloped by the growing sur- rounding community. But the Omaha Steel Cast-


20 | MODERN CASTING October 2014


ings Company of 2014 is some- thing entirely different. Te com- pany recently opened a brand new 145,000-sq.-ft. facility on 20 acres of land in nearby Wahoo, Neb. Te steel casting job shop that services a num- ber of markets, including oil, natural gas and construction, has simplified its operations. Te green sand line has been scrapped. All casting processes from molding to finishing are housed under one roof instead of a half- dozen. And the company is beginning to expand its 140-person workforce after completing a year-long reloca-


tion effort that included a change in ownership in early 2014. “For management and our employ-


ees, opening this new facility has been a breath of fresh air,” said John Baines, general manager. “Te environment is clean, we’ve got a well-lit building and our equipment is in substantially better condition. And we’ve been able to simplify our operations and build a facility that can accommodate us for the long term.”


Outgrowing Omaha At its Omaha facility, OSCC


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