Growth in Oil & Gas, Transportation Spurs Nearly $1 Billion in Projects for North American Foundries & Forging Industry

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The North American foundries & forging industry is benefiting from three major trends in the U.S. economic recovery: a booming U.S. automotive market, which is boosting demand for aluminum used in lightweight vehicles; stronger demand for commercial aircraft materials; and massive growth in the Oil & Gas Industry, which has upped demand for components such as gas turbines. Industrial Info is tracking 72 related projects in the U.S. and Canada with a total investment value (TIV) of $968 million.

Almost 90% of the activity can be found in three regions: the Great Lakes, which has 32 projects valued at $394 million; the U.S. Northeast, which has 11 projects valued at $236 million; and the U.S. West Coast, which has eight projects valued at $213 million.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing active and unconfirmed projects in the North American foundries & forging industry by region.

Almost half of the total investment value for foundries & forging projects in North America--about $461 million--is related to 10 projects that are in the planning stages, where plenty of factors could increase, decrease or eliminate the expected spending. Construction already has begun on 52 projects with a total value of $255 million. Ten projects worth about $250 million are in the engineering stages.

Although the West Coast region takes the bronze in total investment value, it has the project with the single highest value: Weber Metals Incorporated's (Paramount, California) $150 million addition to its metals forging plant in Paramount. The company, a subsidiary of OTTO Fuchs (Meinerzhagen, Germany), plans to demolish older buildings to make way for a 60,000-ton aerospace forging press, which will produce aluminum and titanium for the commercial aerospace, energy, defense, medical and chemical industries. Gray Construction Company (Lexington, Kentucky) is performing construction management services. The addition is expected to kick off in the second quarter of next year.

View Project Report - 300162399

The largest single project in the Great Lakes region is Alcoa Incorporated's (NYSE:AA) (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) $100 million expansion of its casting foundry in La Porte, Indiana. The project, which is being performed by subsidiary Alcoa Howmet (Whitehall, Michigan), involves constructing a 320,000-square-foot building and installing new processing equipment to improve the production of compressor and turbine investment castings for the aerospace and gas-turbine industries. The project is expected to kick off in the fourth quarter of this year and to be completed toward the end of 2015.

View Project Report - 300157175

The leading project in the Northeast, which is the top region for the steel industry, is Ellwood Group Incorporated's (Ellwood City, Pennsylvania) planned, $80 million overhaul of a facility in Sharon, Pennsylvania. The company plans to convert a 400,000-square-foot facility, formerly owned by Westinghouse Electric Company (Monroeville, Pennsylvania), into a steel forge complex. As with the Alcoa project, it is expected to kick off in the fourth quarter and to be completed around December 2015.

View Project Report - 300141551

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.