ESCO Group: Difference between revisions
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Due to the growing mining and construction markets after the war, ESCO launched new products and opened additional plants, sales offices, [[subsidiaries]] and [[licensees]] -– including a Midwest distribution facility in [[Danville, IL]] and a foundry in [[British Columbia]]. The company also adopted new manufacturing, inspection and metallurgical methods. |
Due to the growing mining and construction markets after the war, ESCO launched new products and opened additional plants, sales offices, [[subsidiaries]] and [[licensees]] -– including a Midwest distribution facility in [[Danville, IL]] and a foundry in [[British Columbia]]. The company also adopted new manufacturing, inspection and metallurgical methods. |
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The 1960s and 1970s, ESCO expanded the manufacture |
The 1960s and 1970s, ESCO expanded the manufacture of dragline and shovel dipper buckets and teeth. The company also launched a two-piece Conical tooth system and began using the [[argon oxygen decarburization]] (AOD) and vacuum molding processes. During the 1970s, ESCO opened an automated foundry in Newton, Mississippi and a second Canadian foundry in Ontario. |
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[[Image:Excavator Bucket.jpg|left|thumb|Among other engineered metal wearparts, ESCO manufactures excavator buckets for mining and construction equipment.]] |
[[Image:Excavator Bucket.jpg|left|thumb|Among other engineered metal wearparts, ESCO manufactures excavator buckets for mining and construction equipment.]] |
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Revision as of 18:27, 20 March 2009
 | This article contains promotional content. (December 2008) |
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1913 |
| Headquarters | Portland, Oregon |
Key people | Steve Pratt, Chairman & CEO |
| Products | Wear parts for industrial applications |
| Website | http://www.escocorp.com |
ESCO Corporation is a manufacturer of engineered metal wearparts and components for industrial applications – including mining, construction, power generation and aerospace. Since 1913, the privately held company has been headquartered in Portland, Oregon, USA, and currently has more than 4,500 employees and 25 manufacturing sites throughout the world. The Engineered Products division designs and manufactures ground engaging tools (GET) for mining, construction, conveying, rigging, dredging and other industrial applications. ESCO's Turbine Technologies division manufactures components using investment casting or lost-wax casting techniques for aerospace, defense and power generation applications. The company produces such hot gas path (HGP) components as directionally solidified (DS), single crystal (SC) and equiaxed blades, nozzles, vanes and structural castings.
Brief History of ESCO Corporation
ESCO was founded in 1913 by Oregon businessman Charles (C.F.) Swigert. He saw a need for a local source of steel castings and established the Electric Steel Foundry Company on property once occupied by the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. The foundry used an unusual, modern furnace that was fired by electricity rather than coke -– thus making it the first of its kind in the western United States.
During its first 30 years, ESCO was mainly a regional supplier of cast steel alloy products for the logging, construction and pulp and paper industry throughout the Pacific Northwest. In the 1920s, the company expanded production to include cast steel alloy products like the Bardon choker hook, widely used in forestry. Further growth was sparked by the use of Hadfield manganese steel and the production of dragline excavator buckets. The “ESCO” trademark was first used in 1926 and eventually became the company’s new name.
ESCO survived the Great Depression primarily as a jobbing foundry, making castings for sawmills, pulp and paper mills. In 1932, ESCO opened its first stainless steel industrial service center. During the 1940s, ESCO added new products to meet demand for supply valves, pump bodies, anchor chains and other components for warships and tanks. In 1946, ESCO developed the two-piece ("R") tooth system; and in 1948, the company entered the cable excavator bucket market.
Due to the growing mining and construction markets after the war, ESCO launched new products and opened additional plants, sales offices, subsidiaries and licensees -– including a Midwest distribution facility in Danville, IL and a foundry in British Columbia. The company also adopted new manufacturing, inspection and metallurgical methods.
The 1960s and 1970s, ESCO expanded the manufacture of dragline and shovel dipper buckets and teeth. The company also launched a two-piece Conical tooth system and began using the argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) and vacuum molding processes. During the 1970s, ESCO opened an automated foundry in Newton, Mississippi and a second Canadian foundry in Ontario.
During the early 1980s, ESCO launched its Helilok pin and lock system and also acquired Gray-Syracuse and Concorde Castings -- investment casting facilities serving the aerospace and power generation industries.
During the 1990s, ESCO expanded operations in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada and entered a joint venture to manufacture products in China. The company also acquired Heflin Steel, producing wear liners and armor plate. ESCO also introduced its Super V tooth system.
Additional acquisitions like Quality Steel are aimed at serving the oil sands market. ESCO has also added aerospace and power generation facilities in Belgium and Slovakia and built new facilities in Mexico and Xuzhou, China. IN 2008, ESCO introduced the SV2 Tooth System, the Whisler Plus hammerless locking system, and the Ultralok hammerless tooth system.
In 2006 and 2008, ESCO was named among Oregon's most admired manufacturing companies, according to a Portland Business Journal survey of more than 2,000 Oregon CEOs.
About Hot Gas Path (HGP) Components
Hot gas path components are the expendable replacement parts (blades, nozzels and blisks) of costly industrial gas turbines, locomotive engines and aircraft engines. These components are found deep within the engine and must withstand temperatures that often reach 1,600°C in some places. This is 400 degrees hotter than the melting point of the metal from which turbine components are generally cast. Aircraft engine blades, for example, are grown from a single crystal of alloy for strength and are then coated with tough ceramics, dotted with tiny air holes that creates a thin blanket of cool air that prevents the blades from melting in the extreme heat.
About Ground Engaging Tools (GET)
Ground engaging tools are the expendable replacement parts of costly mining, construction, dredging, crushing, conveying, recycling equipment -- such as excavators, scrapers, draglines, shovels, dippers, graders, dozers, loaders, haulers, dredging cutterheads, backhoes and skid steers. GET protects expensive equipment from the wear and tear common in high-impact or high-abrasion environments (from hard rock mining to dredging and oil sands extraction). GET includes such wearparts as tooth systems, buckets, blades, end bits, couplers, thumbs, ripper systems, lip systems, dozer packages, liner packages, shrouds, chain, chain sprockets, traction wheels, and shredder hammer components.
Markets
ESCO is a manufacturer of products for;
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Mining: - surface and underground hard-rock mining applications. These products include buckets, blades, end bits, couplers, wearparts, ripper systems, shanks, lip systems, dozer packages, liner packages, shrouds and structural components. Typical equipment using wear products includes dozers, graders, excavators, draglines, shovels, dippers, loaders and haulers.
Highway and Heavy Construction: - highway and heavy construction products for excavators, scrapers, graders, dozers, loaders, backhoes and skid steers. These products include tooth systems, buckets, blades, end bits, couplers, thumbs, wearparts, ripper systems, lip systems, dozer packages, liner packages, shrouds and structural components.
Utilities and General Construction: - utility and general construction products for excavators, graders, dozers, loaders, backhoes and skid steers. These products include tooth systems, buckets, blades, end bits, couplers, thumbs, wearparts, ripper systems, lip systems, dozer packages, liner packages, shrouds and structural components.
Universal Wear Products: - brands include:Kwik-Lok II, Kwik-Lok, Dualmet Wear Tiles, Bimetallic Wear Solutions, ESCOALLOY Plate, Chromium Carbide Overlay Plate, Structural Steel Plate, Custom Wear Liners and RemNet
Power Generation, Aerospace and Defense: - the "Turbine Technologies Group" manufactures various products for power generation, aerospace and defense applications. These products include such hot gas path (HGP) components as directionally solidified (DS), single crystal (SC) and equiaxed blades, nozzles, vanes and structural castings. Turbine Technologies also provides such post-cast processes as machining, grinding and stem drilling.
Crushing: - wearparts for various aggregate, quarry and mining applications.
Dredging: - cutterheads, wearparts and tooth systems for a variety of rock, sand and clay dredging applications.
Forestry: - grapple and bunching heads, dual function booms, single function booms, snubbers, sorting heads and swing booms for a variety of logging and wood products manufacturing applications -- including advanced crawlers and skidders.
Rigging: - for a variety of construction, forestry, crane, shipping, marine and industrial wire rope applications. These products include rigging hardware, components, swagers, swage fitting, dies and spelter sockets.
Conveying: - equipment components for such applications as receiving, storage, reclaiming, recovery, pulp mills, woodyards, woodrooms and power generation. These products include long link sprockets, drums, chains, flights, attachments, drag chain sprockets and traction wheels, engineered chain, mill chain and chain attachments. The company also provides shredder hammer assemblies and spare parts.
Recycling: - various products for recycling and recovery operations. These products include hammers, grates, rotor caps, liners and other key components for various types of recycling equipment.
Other Industrial Applications: - various products for other industrial applications -- including military and commercial armour plating, structural shredder parts for recycling, structural components for bridges and communications towers, and alloy molds and vessels for the production of non-ferrous metals.
References
- http://www.escocorp.com/media/articles/Pratt_Guest_%20Editorial_12_07.pdf
- http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=24066
- http://www.portlandalliance.com/distinguishing-portland/stories/esco.htm
- http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/event/4054
- http://blog.oregonlive.com/business/2007/07/local_industrialequipment_manu.html
- http://www.escocorp.com/media/articles/Employees_Return_from_Tour_in_%20Iraq08.PDF