Cressona, Schuykill County, PA -
Legislators toured Hydro Extrusion USA LLC this week to highlight the company's work as it plans for a new high-performance press.
State Rep. Mike Tobash, R-125, Pottsville; Dan Meuser, the Republican nominee for the 9th Congressional District; and U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-5, and co-chair of the Career and Technical Education Caucus, took a tour of part of the plant on Tuesday.
Hydro, 53 Pottsville St., Cressona, is the largest extrusion plant of its kind in North America - covering about 1.5 million square feet.
“You won't find a soft alloy extrusion plant bigger in North America, and to find anything bigger in the world you've got to go to Russia or China,” Michael Hammer, operations manager, said of the plant built in 1940.
Hammer said the company casts more than 45 alloys and has the potential to produce 10 diameters of pipe, rod, bar and other products. There are nine extrusion presses, including three water hydraulic presses from 1937-38.
“We have a lot of those assets that made artillery shell casings for (World War II) still today,” he said.
The nine presses go through a million pounds of material a day, while the three direct casting units handle 1.6 million pounds. There are also 21 ovens, numerous fabrication centers and a distribution warehouse. There are 38 cranes, 150 pieces of mobile equipment, and more than 2,500 racks used to process hundreds of sales orders daily.
He said the company gets most of its raw materials in by rail car and it recycles scrap.
“We make a lot of stuff here. A lot of cool stuff,” Hammer said.
One of the largest customers the company has is Ford Motor Co.
“Our biggest single business is distribution,” Rick Worst, vice president and general manager-industrial region, said.
Truck trailer parts production is the next largest part of the business, he said.
The foundry was operated by Alcoa until 1977. It has had various owners over the years, before it was bought by Norwegian aluminium firm Norsk Hydro in 2017.
“We're going to do the big rebranding and I will finally be able to change our sign out front,” Hammer said. The sign now says “Sapa,” the name of the previous company.
Hammer said the company will be installing a new high-performance press.
“We were just blessed with a $45 million capital project to put a new high-performance press in this backyard. This will be the highest performance, most efficient press, I'm saying, in the world,” Hammer said.
He said they don't have all permits for the project yet, and he is permitted to break ground, but not lay concrete.
“This is where we are going with our latest and greatest expansion: A 100,000-square-foot facility and this is going to be just a tremendous asset, completely modernized,” he said. “(The new building ) is going to be a great improvement.”
Hammer said employees make the business successful. More than 1,100 employees work at the plant - about 900 hourly and 200 salaried.
“Manufacturing and shift work is really not that sexy in today's world,” he said.
Employees come from as far as 90 minutes away, Hammer said.
“We are trying to recruit. Right now, anybody that loves to work in Schuylkill County and live in Schuylkill County, our attempt is to develop them and retain them. We are really trying to make it tough for them to leave so we are offering some flexibility with some shifts, we talked about pay and benefits trying to improve the site facilities,” Hammer said.
He said they try to partner with the local trade schools.
“If you get here, we can develop you,” Hammer said of employees.
“I feel really good about our future,” Worst said.
https://www.republicanherald.com/news/officials-tour-hydro-plant-as-it-readies-for-new-press-1.2388760
