Latrobe Specialty Steel to Expand in Wauseon
04/08/2011 - Latrobe Specialty Steel will use a Contingency Grant recently awarded by the Ohio Department of Development to purchase and install technologically advanced hydrogen atmosphere furnaces at its Wauseon, Ohio, facility.
The Ohio Department of Development awarded a Contingency Grant to Latrobe Specialty Steel Company, recognizing the Wauseon plant’s creation of 31 new full-time jobs and the retention of existing jobs. Latrobe’s Wauseon plant will use the grant to purchase new equipment for its growing precision wire manufacturing business.
“We are grateful to Ohio for their support,” said Dudley Merchant, Latrobe’s Vice President for Business Development. “Latrobe ships this highly engineered wire globally. The company will further expand capacity this summer with the installation of technologically advanced hydrogen atmosphere furnaces, which will improve output at the Wauseon plant. This expansion will require approximately $3 million of additional investment.”
Latrobe makes two product groups at its Wauseon plant: Edgewire and precision stainless steel wire.
The industrial bimetal saw market buys Edgewire, an enhanced value-added, small-diameter, rectangular, high-speed-steel wire. The market, previously served by European producers, includes manufacturers of band saws, hacksaws, reciprocating saws, hole saws and utility knives. Latrobe sources the high speed steel from its Pennsylvania steel mill.
For precision stainless steel wire, Latrobe melts the stainless steel in Pennsylvania, ships it to Wauseon and then draws the wire to the exact standards demanded by its customers in the market for implantable medical devices.
Latrobe Specialty Steel, in continuous operation in the same main location since 1913, employs over 800 people across the world. The company supplies essential materials to the aerospace, defense, energy, hydrocarbon, medical and industrial steel sectors.
