Two 10-ton furnaces in the new melt center at Lodge Manufacturing Co. service its three automated molding lines, running two shifts per day.
Executives at Lodge Manufacturing Co., South Pittsburg, Tennessee, U.S., have a lot of ideas about why demand for their cast iron cookware is growing at a rapid clip. Maybe it’s the marketing. Or it could be the millennials’ interest in cooking. It could be a desire to buy an American-made product. Perhaps it’s because cast iron cookware is a natural product with no nonstick chemicals. Whatever the reason, sales have doubled since 2009 and customers are clamoring for more.
To feed this hunger, the metalcasting facility in South Pittsburg, embarked on a significant expansion with long-term plans for adding even more capacity in the coming years.
In 2013-2014, an at-capacity Lodge Manufacturing replaced its melt center and installed an additional sand system and vertically parted molding machine—basically a greenfield metalcasting facility attached to the existing plant. The expansion added 40% more production capability to the operation. Now, at the end of 2015, Lodge is at 100% capacity again.
The world loves cast iron cookware.