Waupaca sells Pennsylvania foundry to molded parts maker

Easton, Pennsylvania-based Victaulic says it has acquired an iron foundry in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, from Wisconsin-based Waupaca Foundry Inc. Victaulic describes itself as a manufacturer of mechanical pipe joining, fire protection and flow control products.

Victaulic says when the 220,000-square-foot foundry is operating at full capacity, it will increase the company’s “foundry production capacity by 70 percent in the United States and allow for future growth as Victaulic’s business demands increase.”

Waupaca idled the Lawrenceville foundry, which had produced automotive suspension components, in the summer of 2020. When it is operated by Victaulic, the facility will include two foundry molding lines and will let the firm produce larger scale products.

“The addition of Waupaca’s Lawrenceville foundry will provide the scale and capacity necessary to continue our growth plans and most importantly service our valued North American customers,” says John F. Malloy, chairman of the firm. Adds Malloy, “A major aspect of our business strategy has always been to manufacture products in close proximity to our customers.”

Victaulic has more than 1,600 employees in Pennsylvania, including at manufacturing plants in Northampton and Lehigh counties in the eastern part of the state. “We are dedicated to building a long-term, mutually beneficial partnership with the region and its hardworking residents,” says Rick Bucher, Victaulic’s president and CEO. Globally, Victaulic has some 4,500 employees at 40 U.S. and international facilities.

Waupaca Foundry Inc. has been owned by Tokyo-based Hitachi Metals Group since 2014 and operates six iron casting foundries and two machining facilities in Wisconsin, Indiana, Tennessee and Illinois. The foundry operator says it consumed 1 million tons of ferrous scrap in the production of its various grades of gray iron and ductile iron in 2019.