ESCO Corporation

ESCO Corporation

ESCO Corporation [http://www.escocorp.com www.escocorp.com] is a global manufacturer of engineered metal wearparts and components for industrial applications – including mining, construction, power generation and aerospace. For nearly a century, the privately held company has been headquartered in Portland, Oregon, USA, and currently has more than 4,500 employees and 25 manufacturing sites throughout the world.

ESCO Engineered Products is the innovation leader for metal wearparts, components and earthmoving products used in global mining, construction, conveying, rigging, dredging and other industrial applications.

ESCO Turbine Technologies is the responsive manufacturing partner for precision investment cast components used in global aerospace, defense and power generation applications.

Markets Served

Mining: ESCO manufactures mining products for various types of surface and underground hard-rock mining applications. These products include buckets, blades, end bits, couplers, wearparts, ripper systems, shanks, lip systems, dozer packages, liner packages, shrouds and structural components. Typical equipment using ESCO wear products includes dozers, graders, excavators, draglines, shovels, dippers, loaders and haulers.

Highway and Heavy Construction: ESCO manufactures highway and heavy construction products for excavators, scrapers, graders, dozers, loaders, backhoes and skid steers. These products include tooth systems, buckets, blades, end bits, couplers, thumbs, wearparts, ripper systems, lip systems, dozer packages, liner packages, shrouds and structural components. Utilities and General Construction: ESCO manufactures utility and general construction products for excavators, graders, dozers, loaders, backhoes and skid steers. These products include tooth systems, buckets, blades, end bits, couplers, thumbs, wearparts, ripper systems, lip systems, dozer packages, liner packages, shrouds and structural components.

Universal Wear Products:
ESCO's universal wear products include the following:
Kwik-Lok® II
Kwik-Lok
Dualmet™ Wear Tiles
Bimetallic Wear Solutions
ESCOALLOY™ Plate
Chromium Carbide Overlay Plate
Structural Steel Plate
Custom Wear Liners
RemNet

Power Generation, Aerospace and Defense: ESCO's Turbine Technologies Group manufactures various products for power generation, aerospace and defense applications. These products include such hot gas path (HGP) components as directionally solidified (DS), single crystal (SC) and equiaxed blades, nozzles, vanes and structural castings. ESCO Turbine Technologies also provides such post-cast processes as machining, grinding and stem drilling.

Crushing: ESCO manufactures crusher wearparts for various aggregate, quarry and mining applications.

Dredging: ESCO manufactures cutterheads, wearparts and tooth systems for a variety of rock, sand and clay dredging applications.

Forestry: ESCO manufactures grapple and bunching heads, dual function booms, single function booms, snubbers, sorting heads and swing booms for a variety of logging and wood products manufacturing applications -- including advanced crawlers and skidders.

Rigging: ESCO manufactures rigging for a variety of construction, forestry, crane, shipping, marine and industrial wire rope applications. These products include rigging hardware, components, swagers, swage fitting, dies and spelter sockets.

Conveying: ESCO manufactures conveying equipment components for such applications as receiving, storage, reclaiming, recovery, pulp mills, woodyards, woodrooms and power generation. These products include long link sprockets, drums, chains, flights, attachments, drag chain sprockets and traction wheels, engineered chain, mill chain and chain attachments. ESCO also provides shredder hammer assemblies and spare parts.

Recycling: ESCO manufactures various products for recycling and recovery operations. These products include hammers, grates, rotor caps, liners and other key components for various types of recycling equipment.

Other Industrial Applications: ESCO manufactures various products for other industrial applications -- including military and commercial armour plating, structural shredder parts for recycling, structural components for bridges and communications towers, and alloy molds and vessels for the production of non-ferrous metals.

History of ESCO Corporation

ESCO Corporation was founded in 1913 by Oregon businessman Charles (C.F.) Swigert. He saw a need for a local source of steel castings and established the Electric Steel Foundry Company on property once occupied by the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. The foundry used an unusual, modern furnace that was fired by electricity rather than coke -– thus making it the first of its kind in the western United States.

During its first 30 years, ESCO was mainly a regional supplier of cast steel alloy products for the logging, construction and pulp and paper industries throughout the Pacific Northwest. In the 1920s, the company expanded production to include cast steel alloy products like the Bardon® choker hook, widely used in forestry. Further growth was sparked by use of Hadfield manganese steel and the production of dragline buckets. The “ESCO” trademark was first used in 1926 and eventually became the company’s new name.
ESCO survived the hard years of the Great Depression primarily as a jobbing foundry, making castings for sawmills, pulp and paper mills. In 1932, ESCO opened its first stainless steel industrial service center. During the 1940s, ESCO added new products to meet demand for supply valves, pump bodies, anchor chains and other components for warships and tanks. In 1946, ESCO engineers developed the first two-piece ("R") tooth system; and in 1948, the company entered the cable excavator bucket market.
Capitalizing on the growing mining and construction markets after the war, ESCO launched new products and opened additional plants, sales offices, subsidiaries and licensees around the world -– including a Midwest distribution facility (Danville, IL) and a new foundry in British Columbia. The company also embraced new manufacturing, inspection and metallurgical technologies, which allowed for the production of more sophisticated components.
The 1960s and 1970s were years of much growth for ESCO, and the company continued to launch many new products. Demand grew very strong for the company’s dragline and shovel dipper buckets and teeth, and ESCO launched a new, two-piece Conical tooth system. ESCO also became the first steel foundry to use the AOD (argon oxygen decarburization) process, creating alloys of great purity and toughness. The company also adopted a new vacuum molding process. During the 1970s, ESCO opened an automated foundry in Newton, Mississippi and a second Canadian foundry in Ontario. As recession wracked the economy during the early 1980s, ESCO focused on efficiency and improvement. The company launched a new Helilok pin and lock system during this period. By the close of the decade, ESCO acquired Gray-Syracuse and Concorde Castings, which were investment casting facilities serving the aerospace and power generation industries.
Strong economic conditions created capacity challenges for ESCO during the 1990s, and the company expanded operations throughout the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. ESCO also entered a joint venture to manufacture products in China. The company acquired Heflin Steel, which added wear liner fabrication and armor plate capabilities. The new Super V tooth system was a well received new product.
As ESCO approaches its 100th year, acquisitions like Quality Steel allow ESCO to serve the oil sands market. The company has also added aerospace capabilities in Belgium and Slovakia and built new facilities in Mexico and China. The company launched several new products in recent years, including the SV2 and Whisler Plus hammerless locking system and the Ultralok hammerless tooth system.

References

http://www.escocorp.com/media/articles/Pratt_Guest_%20Editorial_12_07.pdf

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=24066

http://www.portlandalliance.com/distinguishing-portland/stories/esco.htm

http://blog.oregonlive.com/business/2007/07/local_industrialequipment_manu.html

http://www.escocorp.com/media/articles/Employees_Return_from_Tour_in_%20Iraq08.PDF

External links

* [http://www.escocorp.com Official ESCO Corporation website]