GIW Industries, a leader in the design, manufacture, and application of heavy-duty, centrifugal slurry pumps, is proud to announce its foundry grand opening.
The foundry is part of a large expansion that includes a new distribution centre, additional heat treat and casting cleaning facilities, as well as CNC machines and an assembly center. As a fully owned subsidiary of KSB, this expansion is one of the largest in the company’s history, and is the biggest project ever undertaken by GIW.
This is all just one step in a path of continuous investment for the company. Phase one included the new foundry, which features 72ft ceilings, and is about the size of a football field. These new facilities will more than triple GIW’s current manufacturing capability.
Long term, this expansion will give GIW / KSB a significant advantage in the mining market. This investment will allow for better handling of the sizeable castings needed by GIW’s customers, some produced by GIW can weigh well over 40,000lb and are bigger than a cement truck. This expansion will allow GIW to keep up with current market demand and to be able to quickly adapt to support future growth.
GIW Industries was established as a small, family owned foundry and machine shop in 1891, known then as Georgia Iron Works. By 1914 the company was supplying slurry pumps to the Florida phosphate industry. Over the years, GIW became known for its severe abrasive handling pumps and began a century of facility expansion and technology growth. In 1996 GIW became a wholly owned subsidiary of KSB and in 2014 the GIW Minerals brand was established. Through the GIW Minerals product brand, KSB strives to be an innovative partner that provides their customers with the best and longest wearing slurry solutions for the mining, dredge and industrial process industries.
Located in Columbia County since 1970, GIW has been a major contributor to the county’s strong economic growth. As one of the county’s largest employers, GIW currently employs over 600 people at their Grovetown facility. Since 2004, the company has more than doubled their employees, and with current expansion they will grow and provide quality jobs for Columbia Country residents. At one time, GIW considered locating the proposed expansion in Canada to be closer to one of their largest target markets, but ultimately decided to continue to invest in Columbia County.
The newly expanded Grovetown foundry is now the number one white-iron foundry in the world, boasting state-of-the-art equipment, highly efficient workflows, top safety features, and significantly greater capacity for both output and storage of very large slurry pump parts. "There are places around the world that make a high-chrome iron, but not anything like our proprietary alloys. It’s these alloys that make GIW products unique and enable us to deliver incredibly long wear life for our products," Richard Sterzen, manager industrial engineering explains.
Work on the new distribution centre is currently underway and is slated to be completed in mid-2016. The building will initially be 59,000ft2 but it was designed with options for increased capabilities to allow for future expansion.
The GIW Minerals’ world class products are specially designed centrifugal pumps used to transport a mixture of liquids and solids, commonly referred to slurry. GIW’s strong history enables them to provide customers with well over a century’s worth of experience in pumps and slurry hydrotransport. GIW is a global business with the majority of its customers located outside the US. Through our network of sales and service centers, we strive to be a trusted global partner.