Specialty pump manufacturer GIW Industries is due to open a new iron foundry next month in Grovetown, GA, completing part of a five-year, $75-million expansion and improvement project. According to local reports, the 50,000-sq.ft. foundry will start up in April and reach its full capacity of 10,000 tons/year by summer.
GIW Industries, formerly Georgia Iron Works, is a subsidiary of The KSB Group, based in Frankenthal, Germany, and a specialty manufacturer of industrial pumps and valves. The centrifugal pumps it produces are used to transport slurries of earth and water in mining and wastewater processing.
GIW currently has two foundries casting white iron, stainless alloys, heat-resistant alloys, nickel-based alloys, and carbon and low-alloy steels, which are offered as-cast, pre-machined, or finish machined for pressure, process, mining, and industrial machinery applications.
The existing foundry at Grovetown is a 210,000-sq.ft. operation pouring white iron for castings up to 32,000 lb.
A 90,000-sq.ft. foundry in Thomson, GA, pours white iron castings up to 5,000 lb., and stainless steel castings up to 2,500 lb.
According to the manufacturer, the new foundry in Grovetown – which includes sand storage and handling systems, molding equipment, melting furnaces, heat treating furnaces, and six cranes to handle the castings produced for GIW’s line of slurry pumps — is being installed to handle a rising level of demand from mining operations worldwide.
Within the larger expansion project, the new foundry represents a $40-million investment. The next stage of the development will be a 45,000-sq.ft. distribution center that will open in 2016. It will be designed for expansion to 80,000 sq.ft. at some future date.
GIW has an estimated 614 employees, and has started hiring to fill positions in the expanded operations. Up to 42 new employees may be added over the next two years, according to the reports.
Ten new employees have been hired about 10 new employees last year because of the expansion and will add at least 32 more highly-skilled factory workers and staff over the next two years.