Cromodora Wheels SPA installed a chip melting furnace for wheel production in Ghedi, Italy. The furnace, which has a capacity of 10,000 tons per year, was supplied and commissioned by Hertwich Engineering, a company of SMS group. Cromodora Wheels produces cast magnesium and aluminum wheels used for competition. Currently, the wheels are manufactured in a low-pressure casting process. The company is modernizing the recycling of its processing scrap with the new melting furnace.

Central Motor Wheel of America Inc. (CMWA) will invest nearly $112 million to expand its aluminum wheel manufacturing facility in Paris, Ky. The project will create 145 full-time jobs and increase the company’s production by 50%. CMWA plans to expand onto an additional 40 acres and add 270,000 square feet onto its existing 330,000-square-foot plant. The 145 new jobs will include production, maintenance and engineering. Work on the expansion will this summer, and company executives expect production to begin in July 2021.

Chinese automotive aluminum wheel manufacturer CITIC Dicastal placed an order with StrikoWestofen Asia (Taicang) for three melting furnaces.

Did you know that we are currently seeing a resurgence in U.S. rail traffic? There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which are today’s high fuel costs. Railroads can haul three times the freight as trucks for the same amount of fuel. Obviously, our healthy economy and the boom in container shipping – expected to grow 5-7% per year for the next five – is also having a positive impact.