Foundry Completes Two-Year Expansion Project

The Clow Valve iron and brass casting operation in Oskaloosa, IA, reported Its two-year, $80-million expansion is complete. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was staged in mid-August.

"The opening of our foundry expansion represents a shared vision for growth and innovation in Iowa with the support of our community partners and significant investment by McWane," stated Clow Valve vice president and general manager Mark Willett.

Clow Valve reported the project was supported by Iowa’s High Quality Jobs Program, which provides financial support to qualifying businesses to offset some of the costs for locating, expanding, or modernizing their plants.

The foundry is a McWane Inc. company manufacturing waterworks valves and fire hydrants for public and private water systems. It has more than 450 employees operating the iron and brass foundries, machine shop, and assembly works.

The expansion nearly doubled Clow Valve's production capacity, it stated, with new systems installed in a 36,000-sq.ft extension to the plant as manufacturing continued on the now-replaced equipment, minimizing disruption to ongoing operations. The older systems were shut down earlier this month.

Clow Valve provided no specific details of the new equipment, but it noted that the foundry's control systems have been newly automated and employee safety and ergonomics have been improved.

It extended thanks to general contractor EC&S – a specialist in large-scale, turnkey engineering and construction projects – as well as to Diversified Pattern and Engineering Co., a supplier for precision tooling and pattern services to foundries.

"Clow Valve is proud to reinforce our commitment to Oskaloosa and continue to contribute to the growth of our local community as a leading high-quality, American-made waterworks and fire hydrants," Willett added.