Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Pennex Aluminum Rebuilds Region's Metal Industry
LEETONIA, Ohio -- A production axis that stretches from Greenville, Pa., to a soon-to-be expanded plant here underscores the desire of Pennex Aluminum Co. to rebuild the region's metals industry with some of the most advanced technology available, a top executive says
“Competition is tough,” remarks Pennex President Dave Riebe. “Some of the things we're working on is getting advanced technology equipment that enables us to stay ahead of the pack and do things for our customers that others can’t.”
That philosophy is behind a $33 million expansion at Pennex's extrusion plant in World Trade Park, Riebe reports. The company announced last week that it would add 170,000 square feet to the plant to accommodate a new, highly advanced extrusion press and new specialized fabrication and machine shop.
"We'll be adding about 65 people over the course of about three years," says Riebe as he walks through 90,000-square-foot building the company purchased in 2010. "After we get the equipment in place, it will take us about that long to get it up to full-run."
The operation today has a nine-inch diameter extrusion press that processes aluminum "logs" into profiles that are used in a variety of industries, Riebe adds. The new press is in the newest generation of its kind, and will complement the older press and help carve out new market opportunities for the company, he says.
Riebe says that the plant is deluged with new orders, requiring its expansion.
“Our business continues to grow. We’ve been oversold for a year,” he relates. “In order to keep up with this demand, we need to expand.”
That wasn’t the case across the industry five years ago when manufacturing struggled to survive one of the worst recessions in recent history. In 2010, Pennex purchased the plant just west of Leetonia and its equipment from General Extrusions Inc., Boardman, which sold off most of its production division including the Leetonia operations.
That purchase in 2010 was just the start of the company's expansion efforts in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. In February 2013, Pennex announced it had reached an agreement with ILSCO Extrusions Inc. to lease the aluminum billeting operation it owns in Sugar Hill Township near Greenville, Pa.
Pennex also recently completed expansion projects at its plant in York, Pa.
That plant was once the site of the Werner Co., which manufactured aluminum ladders for the commercial and residential markets. When Werner vacated that plant, Signature Aluminum assumed operations there but after two years sold its assets to ILSCO Corp., Cincinnati.
Pennex' Greenville operation consists of a cast house that produces aluminum logs and the feedstock that supplies the Leetonia extrusion plant, Riebe reports.
Once they arrive in Leetonia, these logs are first placed into an automatic cutting machine that cuts them into specific lengths, Riebe reports. The result is the production of smaller billets then fed into the nine-inch extrusion press.
To instill some elasticity in the metal, the billets are re-heated to 900 degrees, allowing the material to be pliable enough to be extruded through a specific die.
Each die produces an extrusion that has a different profile, Riebe reports. "An extrusion can be as long as 100 feet," he explains, but is then cut to the length the customer specifies.
Once the material is cut to length, the aluminum is re-heated by temper ovens, Riebe notes. The pieces are then refined through further machining and fabrication before they are packaged and shipped to the customer.
"These profiles are used in a variety of markets," Riebe says.
The automotive industry is the hottest market at the moment, he reports, while construction is making a slow comeback. "Automotive is growing across the industry, so we've taken advantage of that and we’ll definitely continue to invest in this area."
Many Pennex products are used for structural purposes in the auto industry, Riebe relates. "Especially frameworks and anti-vibratory components," he says.
Tracy V. Drake, CEO of the Columbiana County Port Authority, which owns World Trade Park, says Pennex's expansion signals the return of a growing, diverse economy not driven solely by the recent expansion of the oil and gas industry in the region.
“It complements what is going on with shale exploration,” Drake adds. “They chose to expand here because they’re happy with the current plant. They like the work ethic. They like the work force and the location.”
Drake says the expansion at Pennex stands to include equipment that is "very high-tech," reflecting a trend toward a growing transition to advanced manufacturing in the region.
"Our industry is kind of growing like the GDP [gross domestic product]. It's on a slow rise right now," Pennex's Riebe says. "We have a very dedicated customer base. We've stayed with them for the long haul and they've stayed with us. With that, other customers have come to join us as well."
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our free daily email headlines and to our twice-monthly print edition.