WHEMCO Revenue and Competitors

WHEMCO is a distinct assembly of manufacturing facilities acquired from 1983 through 1997 from long-established, pre-eminent manufacturing companies that have been restructured, revitalized, and redeployed by WHEMCO's management team. The origin of WHEMCO dates back to the 1983 acquisition of Mesta Machine Company. The Mesta Machine Company ("Mesta") had been one of the leading machine tool and steel mill equipment manufacturers in the world. In 1983, Park Corporation purchased the assets of Mesta located in West Homestead. When Park Corporation purchased the Mesta facilities in 1983, it evaluated the assets and recognized the potential of the West Homestead facility. The community offered cooperation, a skilled labor force was available, and the plant's basic production facilities were sound. Park, through its newly formed WHEMCO Division, decided to re-open the West Homestead facility on a down-sized, restructured basis, choosing to utilize those assets that were capable of producing products that met the demands of the current marketplace. In 1985, WHEMCO acquired the assets of Bertsch & Co., Inc., located in Cambridge City, Indiana. Since 1879, Bertsch was a leading manufacturer of metal forming equipment. WHEMCO transferred production of the Bertsch machines to its West Homestead Facility. Today, WHEMCO maintains a sales, service, engineering, spare parts and assembly staff at the Cambridge City location. WHEMCO continued to implement its strategy of strategic acquisitions followed by optimal redeployment of such assets, when, in 1987, WHEMCO acquired the idled Midland steel foundry and related operations of the Mackintosh-Hemphill Co. ("Mack-Hemp"). The Midland facility acquisition enabled WHEMCO to combine strategically its heat treating and machining capability at the West Homestead facility with the newly-acquired steel foundry operation to establish vertical integration in the steel roll, commercial castings and slag pot markets. The Midland facility acquisition also provided WHEMCO with an entry into the custom casting business, giving it the ability to not only retrofit older steel mill equipment, but also to cast new mill stands, presses and related equipment. The synergies of the related operations have enabled WHEMCO to diversify and enlarge its product and service offerings and to broaden its presence in heavy industry throughout the world. The Midland facility is one of the largest pouring capacity steel foundries in North America. To complement Midland's and West Homestead facilities steel roll capabilities, WHEMCO purchased the Teledyne Ohio Iron foundry to penetrate the iron market, which is the other major material used to make mill rolls. With this acquisition, WHEMCO now offers one of the most diverse lines of cast back-up and work rolls of any competitor in the industry, which produces vertically cast and statically double poured bimetallic alloy iron rolls. In October, 1994, WHEMCO purchased the assets of Westinghouse Electric Corporation's Bethel Park Division, which provides mobile "in-field" machining services to the steel, power generation, petrochemical, plastics, pulp and paper, shipbuilding and construction industries. In-field services include routine scheduled maintenance programs; location machining; mecostitching, (i.e., coldworking, mechanical sutures for cast iron and steam turbines); the design and manufacture of replacement machine and equipment components; fabrication of heavy weldments; and fabrication of non-ferrous alloys, stainless steel, and refractory metals, all performed at the customer's premises to reduce downtime. WHEMCO assumed responsibility from Park Corporation for the management of Duraloy Technologies, Inc. on January 1, 1996. Duraloy, a manufacturer of specialty alloy castings, was acquired by Park from Blaw Knox Corporation on April 1, 1994. Park elected to transfer management responsibility of Duraloy to WHEMCO for several reasons. WHEMCO's strong international presence will open new markets for Duraloy's products. The consolidation of the two companies will result in savings in sales, general and administrative expenses. Finally, WHEMCO itself will benefit by its access to Duraloy's diverse markets, such as the petrochemical industry. The results from the combination should be greater than the sum of the parts. On July 3, 1997, the Park Corporation purchased the facility formerly known as Manoir Electroalloys in Elyria, OH from Manoir Industries in France. Park assigned the management of the new company, now called Electroalloys Corp., to WHEMCO. The decision to assign Electroalloys to WHEMCO was made to allow WHEMCO to utilize the knowledge gained by managing Duraloy to grow and strengthen the new company. Although Duraloy and Electroalloys are separate companies, many cost saving opportunities exist through consolidation of similar functions. On September 23, 1997, WHEMCO acquired CENTEC Roll Corporation from Bethlehem Steel Corporation. CENTEC is a state of the art supplier of vertically spun cast iron and steel rolling mill rolls, including the latest technology high chrome steel and high speed steel grades. CENTEC boasts the most modern spin casting installation in North America, with the state of the industry heat treatment furnaces and ladle treatment station. On September 23, 1997, WHEMCO acquired Lehigh Heavy Forge Corporation (formerly BethForge) from Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Lehigh Heavy Forge has over 100 years of forging experience to produce a full range of custom open die forgings for the metalworking, nuclear, power generation and industrial equipment and machining industries. With the largest forging press in the Western Hemisphere and its vast experience, Lehigh Heavy Forge has unique capabilities in terms of forging, heat treating, machining and testing. The association of the WHEMCO group and these two newest additions to the family further reinforces our position as an industry leader.