Areas of expertise
Ellwood City Forge combines over 100 years of manufacturing experience with the latest production techniques. Unlike some rival companies, we possess an overall understanding of the microstructure of heavy metallic sections over a large range of chemistries, sizes and geometries.
Based on our knowledge, we can provide the tensile strength, ductility, hardness and other mechanical properties that our customers require. ECF also has the forging and heat treating capabilities necessary to meet new, stringent mechanical requirements.
In each case, we depend on our customers' accurate and complete description of their finishing operations and end-use applications. By teaming with our customers, we can deliver the capabilities they desire, the quality they deserve and the performance their end users demand.
Facilities and equipment
ECF's facilities are designed to meet our customers' requirements for high-quality products, reliable due-date performance and world-class service. These facilities include:
Five modern, oil-hydraulic presses with capacities up to 5000 tons
Heat treating furnaces calibrated to the latest revisions of MIL-H-6875 and API 6A
Water, polymer and oil quenching facilities
A wide range of machine tools, including lathes, milling machines, trepan & boring lathes and vertical machining centers
A metallurgical laboratory capable of testing and certifying in accordance with just about any customer specification
Dependable market-focused sales teams
Equally important, ECF has an advanced material planning, scheduling and priority system. We believe achieving superior due date performance is a fundamental business strategy, and have made a company-wide commitment to achieve optimal due date performance to positively impact our customers' business.
Between our in-house production capabilities and the supply capabilities of our sister company, Ellwood Quality Steels, we can usually meet our customer's most demanding requirements.
Partnership with North American Forgemasters
In 1998, ECF became a 50/50 partner in North American Foregemasters, which is located directly adjacent to the Ellwood Quality Steels facility in New Castle, PA. The facilities include:
A custom-built 4,500 ton hydraulic forging press with an automated 10-station die change magazine, 8 main hydraulic pumps, and a planishing capability of up to 300 strokes per minute. This press is capable of producing forgings as large as 80,000 pounds
Two 100,000 pound lift capacity mobile manipulators, six forge furnaces, and two slow cool furnaces, each capable of holding more than 1,000,000 pounds of steel
New Castle Manufacturing Facility/Ellwood Mill Products
In conjunction with the formation of North American Forgemasters, ECF expanded operations into a 100,000 square foot manufacturing facility in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Conveniently located adjacent to Ellwood Quality Steels and North American Forgemasters, Ellwood City Forge operates a wide range of equipment including machine tools, heat treatment furnaces, water and polymer quench tanks and metallurgical testing equipment. In 2001 operation began on a custom-engineered, 300 HP Ingersoll Portal Machining Center, capable of cutting steel at 300 cubic inches per minute.
Vacuum Arc Remelt Availability
In August of 2003, ECF started operations of a new Consarc 40-inch diameter Vacuum Arc Remelt furnace in the Oil City, PA remelt shop of Electralloy. With a capacity of over 6,000,000 ingot pounds per year, the furnace has been designed to produce remelted ingots between 15 and 40 inches in diameter, ranging in weight from 10,000 pounds to 46,800 pounds.
Vacuum arc remelting is a casting process where a consumable electrode is melted under vacuum at a carefully controlled rate using heat generated by an electric arc struck between the electrode and the ingot. Exposure of the molten metal to the low, near-vacuum pressure reduces the amount of dissolved gases - including oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen - in the ingot. A shallow liquid pool promotes fast solidification and less alloy segregation than in conventionally-teemed ingots. The end result is cleaner steel with improved chemical homogeneity and mechanical properties.
In addition, ECF has arranged with Electralloy for its supply to ECF of Electroslag Remelt (ESR) conversion services. ECF's VAR facility further strengthens its position in the premium engineered material market.
Operating Philosophy
To our customers, ECF emphasizes the core values of metallurgical expertise, job-shop flexibility, reliable due date performance and dependable service.
To our employees, ECF emphasizes the traditional values of hard work and innovation. Notwithstanding the decline of the once-flourishing metal-manufacturing community in the western Pennsylvania area, ECF has remained a stable and loyal employer for more than four generations. We respect our people and reward their effort with above-average base pay and fringe benefits, along with a generous 401K Retirement Plan.
Perhaps this explains why generations of family members choose to work at ECF. It also may explain why, unlike other metals businesses in our region, no union has ever been elected by our employees to engage in collective bargaining.
Good communications and common values shared by ECF management, its employees and customers distinguish our company from the competition and, at the same time, ensure ECF's continuing success.
Ellwood City Forge
P.O. Box 31
Commercial Avenue
Ellwood City, PA 16117
(800) 843-0166
(724) 752-0055
(724) 752-3449 Fax
Daniel P. Hamilton
President
Ellwood City Forge