Citation Corp. has acquired Foseco’s lost-foam casting operation in Bessemer, AL, for an undisclosed price. The producer of cast and machined components and assembles for transportation and industrial markets plans to operate the plant as Citation Lost Foam Patterns L.L.C., and integrate it with its own Columbiana, AL, foundry. Former Foseco-Morval workers will remain at the plant.
Lost-foam casting involves assembling foam patterns to form components in near-net shape. Molten metal dissolves the foam as it forms the final part, in a process that is used to create complex shapes that are difficult to repeat with traditional casting techniques.
Citation further states that lost-foam casting may reduce production costs up to a 25% and reduce component weight by 10-30%.
Citation’s CEO Doug Grimm stated that “the acquisition of Foseco-Morval strengthens our position as the technology and market leader for lost-foam castings and will help create new business opportunities.”
Foseco was acquired by The Cookson Group last year, and the Foseco organization was combined with the Vesuvius business unit. In June 2008 it announced that Foseco-Morval would cease operations in October 2008. The Foseco-Morval plant Guelph, ON, plant, where it manufactured expandable polystyrene patterns for lost-foam foundries, also was closed.