Corhart Stops Production at Kentucky Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). At the end of March 2005, Corhart Refractories Company (Louisville, Kentucky), a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain Ceramics (Worcester Massachusetts), ceased manufacturing operations at its plant located at 1600 West Lee Street in Louisville, Kentucky. The plant manufactured fused cast refractory parts for the glass and steel industries. Some of the equipment from the plant is in the process of being relocated to sister plants in Massachusetts, New York, and West Virginia. Remaining equipment will be sold or salvaged.

The Louisville site, which had been in operation since 1927, includes two production buildings, totaling 320,000 square feet. In 1997, Corhart built a $12 million, 60,000 square foot plant addition for the manufacture of Cruciform, a product used to line glass furnaces. The decision to close the plant was made based on significant losses incurred during the past five years, stemming from a lack of demand for Corhart's products. The Corhart division also operates a plant in Buckhannon, West Virginia. Saint-Gobain Ceramics operates plants in Worcester, Massachusetts and Niagara Falls, New York, and at overseas locations, such as India and China, as well.

Manufacturing process equipment at the plant includes: slip casting machines, isostatic presses, conventional kilns, slab cutting operations, batching system, cruciform raw materials unloading, alumina dispensing system, pneumatic sand conveying system, no-bake mold manufacturing, can dumper system, cast sand blaster, electrode coating system, alumina flasking station, pattern shop, vacuum system, thermal sand reclamation system, electric arc furnaces, sand dryers, unipave operation, and robots.

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