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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1979-07-25, Page 22two rm" Centennial mu". urm Western Foundry Company Ltd. one of Wingham s industrial success stories Ooe of Wingham's big in- *md rial sus stories is the Story of Western Foundry Company Ltd. Aftertaking a lack seat to the furniture fac- wee during the early years, the foundry has emerged during the past decade as the town's premier industry and leading employer. Since 1961, when the Present management took control, the number of employees on the company Payroll has grown from i about 35 to more than 250, with wages and fringe benefits ex- ceeding $4 million annually. Sales during that time have climbed from about $250,000 a year to, the $lo million range. During that time the foundry has also changed from a 'captive' foundry, producing and marketing coal and wood stoves and various types of furnaces, to a 'jobbing' foundry which produces castings on contract for other companies, The company has focussed heavily on the ex- port market and about 80 Per cent of its production is now shipped to the United States. The foundry industry was not always so healthy in Wingham and indeed its start here was inauspicious. The story of the conning of the National Iron Works, the forerunner of Western Foundry, is an intriguing tale of industrial entrepreneurism around the turn of the century. The following account is taken from the anniversary edition published by The Advance -Times in 1954. BULLOCK'S MONUMENT At one time it was believed Wingham would become a great POURING THE METAL—A worker shields himself as he pours molten Iron from a pour- ing ladle Into a completed mold. The Iron is poured at temperatures ranging between 2,750 and 2,450 F. industrial centre of western the ceremony of placing gold town each inscribed with the date Ontario and about 1900 the pins, fathers advertised the town in a of the opening and the coun- number of city newspapers. They cillor's name, on the coats of the received several replies from councillors. The Advance made Industrial concerns asking what the horrible error of reporting inducements the town would that these were gold Plate and provide, including one from John hastened to correct the error the Galt and William Bullock, two following week. They were solid men who wanted to establish an gold. iron and brass foundry and Mr. Bullock in turn was machine shop. presented with a gold watch in Mr. Bullock promised they appreciation of his energy in would organize a company with a bringing about the enterprise and capital stock of $50,000, erect his wife received a silver tea buildings and plant at a cost of service. $30,000 and employ 75 to 100 men. The guests then visited the The town agreed to give a $17,000 molding shop and witnessed the loan and promised exemption completion of the first cast. In the from taxes for 10 years. evening there were fireworks, The site chosen was just $cross band music and a balloon the Grand Trunk Railway bridge ascension. and three buildings occupying After a few short weeks, about 15,000 square feet were erected. The front of the grounds however, some of the citizens seemed a little disgruntled about facing the riverbank was to be the new industry and it was felt terraced and boulevarded so as the big boom was not getting to present a pleasing appearance underway quickly enough. These from the town. were probably the people who An important day for Wingham had bought stock in the com- was the official opening of the pany; many had invested every National Iron Works Ltd. in the cent they could. The town was latter part of July, 1901, with Mr. still encouraged, but by Bullock as the genial host. November of that year a change The celebrations started with had been made. Mr. Bullock luncheon for the council and resigned as managing director no mention was made of Mr. following this the Lucknow Brass and Band, hired for the occasion, Galt. headed the parade to the new At a meeting of the establishment. Mayor Clegg, shareholders Dr. Irwin was councillors and their wives and named president and John other important citizens followed Murray secretary. Other the band in carriages and members of the board of townspeople thronged the management included J. streets. On arrival at the foundry MacLean, A. E. Smith, Geo. the procession was greeted with Mason and Geo. Newton. They cheers by those already gathered were left with the situation for the special occasion. dumped into their laps: Mr. There was an inspection of the Bullock had left the town assets plant and then, after the town of $30,000 and liabilities of Mi ann hnt nnnarnntly not the officials and other iriviieu gue - had taken their places on the office furniture. platform, Mr. Bullock's two- For several months the council year-old son gave the signal and endeavored to interest an in - the machinery was thrown into dustry in the newly -acquired operation. establishment, but it was not The Misses Bullock presented a until August, 1902, that it finally flag to the works and it was succeeded and Western Foundry hoisted amid the booming of came into existence. What was cannon crackers and cheers, with by this time known as Bullock's the band playing "Praise God Monument needed a new roof in From Whom All Blessings the year's interval and was Flow". Numerous speakers ,reported tohave sold -for $8,500. addressed the gathering and. letters were read, including one WESTERN FOUNDRY from Sir Wilfrid Laurier COMPANY regretting his inability to attend. The commencement of the Although the machinery made Western Foundry was a great a great deal of din the master of deal less colorful than that of the ceremonies, Mr. Bullock, ex- National Iron Works and fem plained that the first casting was details were made public at the in the cupola' and must be time. However it remained ruck completed. He also announced longer. that not all the machinery was Three men who had beer installed, but it would be arrivitig connected with the Gurney Stovi any day. One of the machines Co. of Toronto took over the three was designed by a young buildings erected by Mr. Bullock Canadian especially for the iron J. J. Cunningham was th4 works and would be the only'one manager, Mr. Taylor the of its kind in the world. It was business manager and Mr capable of turning a screw on a Maddin foreman. A Mr bar of iron 28 feet long. Doesbury was put on the road a Following the speeches Mrs. salesman and the following yea Bullock was called to the plat- William Varey joined Mr form and graciously performed Cunningham. Tu nearest stove foundry the time was in London, con- sequently there was no skilled help in the district and men had to be brougbt in from the cities. This was not completely satisfactgry as the city people became" %ssatisSed with rural life and there was also the problem of insufficient ac- commodation. Later the foundry was completely staffed with local citizens. COPE AND DRAG—Larger molds, 2A Inches square and up, are made In a process called "cope and drag". This too will eventually give way to faster production by automatic machine. Additional buildings were erected and new machinery installed, including a dynamo for electroplating. The firm con- centrated on producing stoves for domestic use and later expanded into the production of furnaces, steel ranges and heaters. The main outlet was through. the T. Eaton Co. of Toronto. The foundry continued to ex- pand and in 1918 over 18,000 stoves and ranges were produced by a staff of more than 150 men. Mr. Cunningham died in 1921 and was succeeded by H. C. MacLean. He was followed by F. W. Spry, who had also been with the Gurney foundry, in 1937 and 10 years later C. A. Roberts of Toronto was named general manager. He was followed in 1952 by the late Tom Currie, who had started in the office of the firm in 1920. The president of the company at that time was W. E. LeVan of Arnprior, a son-in-law of former part owner Richard Vanstone; the late G. W. Tiffin, who started with the company in 1928, was secretary -treasurer. MOVING AHEAD The Western Foundry Co. weathered the depression and the war and succeeded in making the name Wingham and brand names such as Huron, Maitland, Clipper, Classic, Red Hot, Sunblast and Western known from coast to coast. However, despite a brief boom periini immediately following World War II it became apparent that the foundry would have to make changes to meet the challenge of a new era. The changes called for new ideas and in June of 1960 Don Kennedy (now executive vice president), whose wife is a granddaughter of Richard Vanstone, joined the foundry as an a3sistant to Mr. Currie. The following January Dick LeVan, son of W., E. LeVan and grandson of Mr. Vanstone, took over as president and general manager. Foundry Manager Lee Grove joined the firm in June of the same year. At that time there were only about 35 persons on the foundry payroll and the sheet metal shop, which produces custom designed air conditioning cabinetry for high rise office buildings, was the busiest part of the plant. Stove plate was still the foundry's major,,product. Since then Western Foundry has embarked on a program of expansion and modernization that has seen a complete change in products, a massive building and equipment replacement program and 'a great expansion of the work force. None of the existing 90,000 square feet of buildings in the foundry division were standing in 1965; the work force has in- creased to 255, including office staff; and two electric furnaces replace the old coke -fired cupola, increasing production to 80-90 tons of metal a day from about three tons in 1961. The foundry is now classified as a jobbing foundry, producing castings under contract for customers which include Ford Motor Co., Canadian (imera, Electric, General Motors, Westinghouse, Trane Co. of Canada, GSW Limited, Cham- pion Road Machinery, Garland Commercial Ranges and Sta-Rite Industries of Canada. It also represents Fritz Winter Foun- dries of West Germany, which produces larger castings such as engine blocks, heads and valve castings. Another phase of moder- nization that is still going on is automation of the core -making and molding processes. New automatic equipment both speeds up production and takes over some of the heavy manual labor. However it isn't reducing staff at the foundry. On the contrary, more people are now employed in the core room than ever before, Mr. Grove said. The type of work is changing, with more people now working as machine operators or doing setup or cleaning. As well the speeded - up production meant more people had to be hired to handle the finished product. The new methods demand better education, he added, and Western Foundary makes a practice of sending its employees N QUALITY CONTROL—Ono of the many quality control checks used at the foundry is this Inspection for cracks In the casting under ultraviolet light. T CORE MAKING --This is one of four fully automatic and three semi automatic core making machines in use at Western Foundry. The machines have cut down on manual labor and tremendously Increased production capacity. The foundry uses about 70 tons per week of resin coated silica sand to produce the cores for castings. MAKING THE MOLD—Some parts of the process are still done by hand although the trend is toward more automa- tion. The molding sand is pressed into shape inside the aluminum pattern box. to courses and seminars offered through the American Foundry Society. STAYING ON TOP The intensive program of modernization as well as the attention to quality control demanded by many of the foundry's customers have helped make this one of the most up-to- date foundries in North America. The total capital investment during the past five years has exceeded $3 million and two more automatic molding machines are on order. However the foundry business is an intensely competitive one and Western Foundry is not sitting on its laurels. Since 1960 the number of foundries in North America has declined to about 1,500 from 5,000 due largely to the investment required in pollution control equipment. It is also necessary to stay on top of new technologies which allow more accurate casting with thinner walls for a weight -conscious market. The foundry management is planning a leading role within the industry associations, with Dick LeVan recently appointed president of the Canadian Foundry Association, Mr. Kennedy serving as Ontario director of the Iron Casting Society and Mr. Grove a former Ontario chapter chairman of the American Foundrymen's Society. Western Foundry is also unique among Ontario foundries in having its own airplane and a pilot, Bob Gruen of Clinton, on staff. The plane is used for sales trips, primarily to tie U.S., and saves time as well as wear and tear on the salesmen, Mr. Kennedy explained. Mr. Kennedy is very optimistic about the future of the foundry. Although the overall North American market for foundry products has grown at the rate of about five per cent a year, Western Foundry's sales have grown much faster, he noted, adding he feels it can sustain a substantial growth rate over the next three to four years. It is always looking for new opportunities in the field and within the past two years pur- chased a Kitchener industry which makes patterns for foundry molds, a complex and highly skilled art in itself. He also paid tribute to the foundry's work force, saying he feels it has been one of the company's great strengths. The foundry has a very young work force, he noted, and it follows a policy of trying always to promote from within, as well as taking advantage of ap- prenticeship programs wherever possible. DR. R. L. STEWART Born in Bluevale in 1864, he began his medical practice In Belgrave before moving to Wingham where he practised for 43 years. It was said of him that he was loved and trusted by allhsorts of people, that he carried his religion in his heart and It permeated his whole Ilfe and that he adorned his profession. (Photo cour- tesy of Mrs. Olive Gallaher)