1999 The Year in Review.

The past year continued to see steady domestic casting consumption, capping off a decade of prosperity as the industry surges into the new millennium.

The year 1999 will be remembered by future generations as the topper on a decade of industry growth. In 1999, shipments were 14.8 million tons, representing the sixth consecutive year that shipments were above the 14 million mark.

The past year was marked by three successful trade shows, AFS' Casting Congress and CastExpo, the North American Die Casting Assn.'s (NADCA) Congress and Exposition, and the GIFA trade show. The overall acquisition trend dominated the news in 1999, with larger firms diversifying or expanding through the purchase of smaller operations, and the year even witnessed merger deals between a few foundry giants. The industry's growth remains strong, and foundries hurt by fire have vowed to rebuild.

The following month-by-month review highlights industry and other significant events in 1999, as reported in modem casting:

January

* Intermet Corp., Troy, Michigan, purchased Vorpommersche Eisenwerke GmbH Ueckermunde, an iron foundry in eastern Germany.

* Neenah Foundry Co., a Neenah, Wisconsin-based business of Advanced Cast Products, Dublin, Ohio, acquired Cast Alloys, Inc., Carlsbad, California, a manufacturer of golf club heads in steel and titanium.

* Formcast, Inc., Denver, acquired the Buhler North American Development Center, which provides prototyping, development and training in semi-solid metal, squeeze casting and high-pressure diecasting technologies, from Buhler, A.G., Switzerland.

* The principal owners of Federal Bronze Casting Industries, Inc., Newark, New Jersey, and Fox Hills Industries, Inc., Huntington Beach, California, purchased the assets of Fountain Foundry, Inc., Pueblo, Colorado, a 60-employee iron and steel operation pouring castings up to 2000 lb in both green sand and nobake molds.

* Piqua Emery Foundry, Piqua, Ohio, an 85-man job shop specializing in sand and permanent mold aluminum castings, began production on an automatic molding line with turntable and reverberatory furnace, and a $500,000 sand handling system, including conveyors, sand silo, rotary screen and a muller.

February

* Waupaca Foundry's Plant 5 operation in Tell City, Indiana, received the 1999 AFS Plant Engineering Award.

* Worthington Industries, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, completed the sale of its Buckeye Steel Castings, a Columbus-based 1400-employee foundry that manufactures carbon and low-alloy steel castings, to Key Equity Capital Corp., Cleveland.

* Atchison Casting U.K., a subsidiary of Atchison Casting Corp., Atchison, Kansas, purchased the French iron foundry, Fonderie d'Autun, owned by Compagnie Internationale du Chauffage.

* West Homestead Engineering and Machine Co., Pittsburgh, announced plans to close its 108-employee steel centrifugal casting subsidiary, Electroalloys Corp., Elyria, Ohio, and consolidate operations at Electroalloy's sister company, Duraloy Technologies, Inc., Scottdale, Pennsylvania, a producer of static and centrifugal castings for the petrochemical, steel and commercial heat-treating industries.

* Gibbs Die Casting Corp., Henderson, Kentucky, announced that its diecasting facility in Harlingen, Texas, launched production of magnesium and aluminum die castings.

* Jahn Foundry, a Springfield, Massachusetts-based subsidiary of Atchison Casting Corp., was damaged in an explosion and fire, later linked by investigators to a "fire event" in one of the facility's shell molding stations.

March

* Turbodyne Technologies, Inc., Woodland Hills, California, and AlliedSignal, Inc., Morristown, New Jersey, signed joint development and licensing agreements to manufacture turbochargers and other electrically assisted charge air systems.

* Big Four Foundries Corp., a producer of iron, iron alloy and steel castings, began production at its new Fascast Div., Tulsa, Oklahoma, a 60,000-sq-ft greenfield foundry featuring an automated nobake molding system that can deliver 30 molds/hr.

* Cifunsa, S.A. de C.V., Saltillo, Mexico, announced plans to add melt capacity to its 2-year-old foundry for diesel heads and blocks, increasing Cifunsa's overall melt capacity to 300,000 metric tons by the second quarter of 2000.

* PCC Structurals, Inc. (Precision Castparts Corp.), Portland, Oregon, announced that it would invest $14 million over the next 4 years to develop Oregon facilities exclusively for industrial gas turbine casting production.

* Ganton Technologies, an aluminum and magnesium diecasting and machining firm in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, agreed to purchase Diemakers, Inc., a northeastern Missouri-based maker of magnesium, zinc and aluminum die castings.

* VS America, Inc. (VS Guss AG), a maker of high-volume malleable iron castings up to 2 lb, moved from Holland, Michigan, to Troy, Michigan, to pursue auto and other applications.

April

* Chicago White Metal Casting, Bensenville, Illinois, announced the first phase in the development of an industrial park to house its new 200,000-sq-ft facility on a 36-acre parcel in Elgin, Illinois, for diecast component design, production, machining, finishing and assembly.

* Hidden Creek Industries, Minneapolis, and its Canadian partner, Onex Corp., agreed to acquire a controlling interest in J.L. French Automotive Castings, Inc., Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a designer and manufacturer of highly engineered aluminum diecast automotive components.

* Superior Industries International, Inc., Van Nuys, California, announced that its European firm, Suoftec, Tatabanya, Hungary, won multi-year contracts to supply cast aluminum wheels to the Rover Group, Ltd., England, for several of its vehicle lines, including sport utility vehicles and passenger cars.

* Service Metal Co., Inc., a sand, shell and centrifugal molding ferrous and nonferrous foundry, relocated within Houston to a new 25,000-sq-ft facility that allows room for new equipment, including a shell molding line.

* Howmet Corp., Greenwich, Connecticut, signed a long-term agreement with Siemens to supply investment castings with both of the German group's power generation subsidiaries, KWU and Siemens-Westinghouse.

* The Hamilton Foundry & Machine Co., Harrison, Ohio, acquired Sherman Foundry, Sherman, Texas, a nobake and green sand operation that pours gray and ductile iron.

May

* The Executive Committee of the AFS Board unanimously approved the appointment of David P. Kanicki to vice president of administration, concluding a 7-month-longsearch for an executive administrator for the Society with the approaching retirement of AFS Executive Vice President Chuck Jones.

* Pacific Aerospace & Electronics, Inc., a Wenatchee, Washington-based designer and manufacturer of high-performance electronic and metal components, received $5 million in orders for aluminum castings for commercial Boeing aircraft.

* Johnstown America Industries, Inc., Chicago, announced that its Gunite Corp. subsidiary agreed to acquire EMI Co., an iron foundry and machining company located in Erie, Pennsylvania, from Hitachi Metals America, Ltd.

* Coastcast Corp., Rancho Dominguez, California, completed the acquisition of California Precision Aluminum Casting, Inc., a small manufacturer of aluminum castings using the silicone rubber/plaster mold process.

* Matthews International Corp., Pittsburgh, agreed to purchase the assets of Caggiati, S.p.A., Colorno, Italy, and its subsidiaries, Caggiati Espana, S.A., Valencia, Spain, and Caggiati France Sarl, Lyon, France.

* Precision Castparts Corp. agreed to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Wyman-Gordon, North Grafton, Massachusetts, a producer of high-quality castings for the aerospace, energy and industrial markets.

* Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering, a subsidiary of Atchison Casting Corp., secured its first order for ship castings for the U.S. Navy from Avondale Industries Shipyards Div., Louisiana.

* Howmet Corp.'s Structural Casting facility in Hampton, Virginia, delivered its first production pylon support casting for the Bell/Agusta BA609 commercial tiltrotor aircraft.

June

* Griffin Wheel Co. (Amsted Industries) selected Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the site for its new $150-million, 300,000-sq-ft plant, which will cast steel wheels for freight cars and locomotives.

* The GIFA international foundry trade show, held in Dusseldorf, Germany, featured 900 exhibitors and hosted 53,000 visitors.

* Soligen Technologies, Inc., Northridge, California, and Wright-K Technology, Inc., Saginaw, Michigan, agreed to establish a Saginaw-based joint casting center.

* The Teksid Group, Turin, Italy, and Eaton Corp., Cleveland, formed a global strategic alliance for the design, manufacture and sale of automotive cylinder head systems.

* Citation Corp., Birmingham, Alabama, agreed to merge with RSJ Acquisition Co., a corporation formed by Kelso & Co., a private investment firm based in New York City.

* Superior Industries International, Inc., was awarded multi-year contracts, including new incremental and replacement business for wheels currently being cast, with an annual value of more than $250 million.

* TB Wood's Corp., Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, announced that its subsidiary, TB Wood's, Inc., entered a joint venture with Electron Corp., Littleton, Colorado, which specializes in gray and ductile iron castings and manufactures a line of belt drive components.

* Siemens Automotive Corp., Auburn Hills, Michigan, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Navistar International Corp., Chicago, selected a 200,500-sq-ft greenfield facility in Columbia, South Carolina, for their Siemens Diesel Systems Technology, L.L.C. joint venture.

July

* Everett Smith Group, Ltd., the Milwaukee-based owner of Sivyer Steel Corp., announced that Sivyer CEO and President Claude Robinson, Vice President of Operations John Wolfram and Vice President of Sales and Marketing Patrick Comparin , along with Facilitator Capital Fund, a Wisconsin-based private equity partner, agreed to purchase the Bettendorf, Iowa-based foundry.

* Kurdziel Industries, Inc., Muskegon, Michigan, announced that its Kurdziel Industrial Coatings Co. subsidiary would open a new facility in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania, to provide finish-painted castings for the boom lift and lift truck markets.

* Turbodyne Technologies, Inc., launched a wholly owned subsidiary, Turbodyne International Corp., which was established to focus on implementating Turbodyne's worldwide strategy in marketing, sales and licensing, as well as on the establishment of distributorships and dealerships for products.

* Doncasters, plc, Melbourne, England, manufacturer of precision-engineered components for industrial and aerospace gas turbines, sold two U.K. foundry businesses, Yeovil Precision Castings, Ltd., based in Somerset, and Anderson Stewart Castings, Ltd., based in Scotland.

* Grede Foundries, Inc., Milwaukee, and Teknik, S.A. de C.V. (Proeza, S.A. de C.V.), Monterrey, Mexico, signed an agreement to share technical and sales functions in the marketing and production of iron castings in Mexico.

August

* Harmony Castings, Inc., an aluminum V-process foundry in Harmony, Pennsylvania, was acquired by Ligon Industries, Birmingham, Alabama.

* Amsted Industries, Inc., Chicago, and Varlen Corp., Naperville, Illinois, announced a definitive merger agreement.

* The Budd Co.'s Waupaca Foundry subsidiary announced plans to build a $95-million facility in Etowah, Tennessee.

* Cleveland-based Howmet-Tempcraft, Inc. (Howmet Corp.), which designs and makes investment casting patterns and assemblies, was renamed Howmet TMP Corp.

* Briggs & Stratton Corp., Milwaukee, completed the sale of its ductile iron foundries to Metal Technologies Holding Co., Inc., Fort Wayne, Indiana, including Briggs & Stratton's West Allis, Wisconsin and Ravenna, Michigan operations.

* Howmet Corp. announced that it changed the name of three aluminum casting subsidiaries: Howmet Cercast (U.S.A.), Inc., with facilities in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, City of Industry, California, and Hillsboro, Texas, was renamed Howmet Aluminum Casting, Inc.; Howmet Cercast (Canada), Inc., with facilities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Georgetown, Ontario, Canada, was renamed Howmet Aluminum Casting, Ltd.; and Howmet's C.I.R.A.L., Evron, France, was renamed Howmet CIRAL, S.N.C.

* In an effort to expand its contract aluminum casting business, Taylor-Pohlman, Inc., Orchard Park, New York, announced plans to build a $7-million 50,000-sq-ft facility in Arcade, New York.

September

* Fall River Foundry, a green sand and chemically bonded sand molding operation in Fall River, Wisconsin, was damaged by fire.

* Advanced Metals Group, L.L.C., through its newly created wholly owned subsidiary, Oberdorfer L.L.C., acquired the assets of Oberdorfer Industries, Inc., Syracuse, New York, from Citation Corp.

* Southwestern Foundry, Paris, Texas, a producer of brass and bronze castings, was sold by Crane Co. to BDR Group, Inc., an investment group headquartered in Leeds, Alabama.

* Superior Industries International, Inc., acquired a 142,000-sq-ft building and 69 acres of land in Heber Springs, Arkansas, to house dedicated aluminum automotive component manufacturing operations.

* Wescast Industries, Inc., Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and Linamar Corp., Guelph, Ontario, Canada, agreed to form a European joint-venture company for the sales, design and manufacture of iron automotive castings for the European market.

* Onex Corp. announced that its J.L. French Automotive Castings, Inc. subsidiary agreed to acquire Nelson Metal Products Corp., a supplier of medium and large aluminum die castings for the automotive industry.

* Atchison Casting Corp's St. Joe Div., St. Joseph, Missouri, was awarded a $4.1-million contract by General Dynamics Land Systems, Sterling Heights, Michigan, for the supply of ballistic armor steel castings to be used in the M1A1 Abrams battle tank.

October

* Voest-Alpine Giesserei Linz, a unit of the Vienna, Austria-based steel group Voest-Alpine Stahl, won an $18-million contract to supply General Electric of the U.S. with steel castings for gas turbines.

* One Source Casting Corp. announced a strategic alliance with Specialty Cast Metals, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, to supply customers with a broader range of alloys, products and services.

* DaimlerChrysler AG's Powertrain unit acquired a foundry near Cape Town in South Africa for $26.7 million from Atlantis Engine Corp. to produce cast iron for truck engine blocks.

* Transportation Technologies Industries, Inc., Chicago, announced that its Imperial Group subsidiary acquired BMC of Virginia, Inc., Dublin, Virginia.

November

* Superior Industries International, Inc., selected a site for a $50-million, 350,000-sq-ft aluminum road wheel low-pressure permanent mold foundry near its plant in Chihuahua, Mexico.

* Atchison Casting Corp. announced that its St. Joe and London Precision Machine units were awarded initial contracts by General Motors' Electro-Motive Div. for the supply of cast steel SD-70 series locomotive parts.

* Aluminum and iron automotive castings manufacturer Teksid, Inc., a unit of Fiat USA based in Turin, Italy, announced it would expand with an $80-million plant in Sylacauga, Alabama, according to the Birmingham News.

* A definitive agreement was reached by Intermet Corp. to purchase Ganton Technologies, Inc., and Diversified Diemakers, Inc., from JJM, L.L.C., Gantec II, L.L.C., and Cerberus Institutional Partners, L.P.

* Golden Casting Corp., Columbus, Indiana, was awarded an order from Detroit Diesel Corp. for two-cycle engines.

* Claremont Foundry, Inc., a subsidiary of Atchison Casting Corp., secured its first order for castings from Systems & Electronics, Inc., to be used on a military trailer for the Ml family of Abrams battle tanks.

* Cleveland hosted more than 5755 diecasting industry representatives for NADCA's 20th International Die Casting Congress and Exposition, which featured 268 exhibitors,

* Intermet Corp. agreed to purchase Ganton Technologies, Inc., and Diversified Diemakers, Inc., from JJM, L.L.C., Gantec II, LL.C., and Cerberus Institutional Partners, L.P.

* Although its 86,000-sq-ft plant was damaged by fire, Springfield Aluminum, Nixa, Missouri, continued to operate in nearby 33,000-sq-ft facilities.

* Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc., and its partner UNIK, S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of DESC, S.A. de C.V. Mexico City, Mexico, announced plans to expand capacity at their cast aluminum wheel plant in Chihuahua, Mexico.

* Claremont Foundry, Inc., a subsidiary of Atchison Casting Corp., secured its first casting order from Systems & Electronics, Inc., for the M1 family of Abrams battle tanks.

* Golden Casting Corp., Columbus, Indiana, was awarded several new contracts from Detroit Diesel Corp., the Trane Co. and Meritor Automotive.

* Doncasters, plc, Melbourne, England, makers of precision components for aerospace and industrial gas turbines, has acquired a large-parts precision casting facility based in Groton, Connecticut, from Wyman-Gordon Co.

December

* Grede Foundries, Inc., Milwaukee, and Proeza, S.A. de C.V., Monterrey, Mexico, announced plans to construct and operate a state-of-the-art Mexican ductile iron foundry.

* Internet Corp. announced plans to close its Ironton Iron, Inc., foundry in Ironton, Ohio.

* Neenah Foundry Co. acquired Gregg Industries, El Monte, California.

* Venezuela-based Indumet announced plans to build a state-of-the-art foundry in the U.S. to produce cast iron soil pipe fittings for building construction and castings for its citrus juicers and housewares products.