Pier Foundry Tour

Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/11/2023
2:00 pm - 6:15 pm

Location
Pier Foundry
51 State Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55107

In Case You Missed It… 

On September 21, 2023, AFS Corporate Member Pier Foundry & Pattern Shop hosted the AFS Twin Cities Chapter by providing informational plant tours of its site, located on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Paul. Afterwards, there was a social and dinner presentation by Pier Foundry personnel at Joseph’s Grill. Owned by the fourth generation of the Grilz family, Pier
Foundry employs 65 people; and recent upgrades to the plant are making a positive impact on business growth and the workforce.

Pier Foundry recently added a new Hunter HLM Series automated molding machine, and a new 14-cu-ft tumble blast BCT (Blast Cleaning Technologies) machine in October 2023 Together,
these installations represent a $2 million investment for the gray- and ductile-iron, green sand foundry. During the installation, the plant remained in operation while maintaining the same footprint. These improvements support long-term changes to the shop floor.

The recent capital investments do not, by themselves, increase plant capacity, but they are a part of a 12-month, $8 million investment plan for the site. The remaining investments, coming this December and in the spring of 2024, will position the company to handle 30% more jobs.

Next year, Pier Foundry & Pattern Shop, which is ISO 9001:2015 certified, celebrates 135 years of metalcasting at its original site location in St. Paul. It serves customers in agriculture, heavy duty truck, construction, machine tool, material handling, pump and valve sectors; producing castings up to 70 pounds.

AFS Twin Cities Chapter travels to St. Paul to tour Pier Foundry on Monday, September 11th beginning at 2:00 p.m. Groups of around 5-6 people will take a tour of the foundry based on pre-selected time slots beginning at 2:00pm and leaving every 15 minutes thereafter. When tours are completed, we will meet at Joseph’s Grill for a social, dinner, and a presentation. **Please wear closed toed shoes and bring your own eye and hearing protection for the tour. Schedule… 2:00pm      First Tour Begins at Pier Foundry – 51 State Street, St. Paul, MN 55107 3:40pm      Last Tour Finishes 4:00pm      Social Hour at Joseph’s Grill – 140 Wabasha Street South, St. Paul, MN 55107 5:00pm      Dinner 5:45pm      Presentation Register below for your preferred tour time by Friday, September 8th at noon.  Click here to view newsletter.

 

Registrations

Attendees Registered

• Don Scheele
• Ben Jorgenson
• Ben Jorgenson
• Ashley Folden-Ecker
• Chris Forster
• Joe Kranz
• Shawn Conners
• Tyson Remy
• James Melville
• Pat Badzinski
• Steven Coozennoy
• Josh Jaycox
• Jim Clifford
• Rick Peterson
• Neil Kniseley