Clockwise from top left: Hitchiner's four major production divisions, the Ferrous Division, located in Milford, New Hampshire, Hitchiner Mfg. Co. de Mexico, located in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, Hitchiner S.A. de C.V., located in Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico, and the Gas Turbine Division, located in Milford, New Hampshire.

Highlights:

• Private Company
• Founded/Incorporated: 1946
• Employees: 2,500 worldwide
• Sales: $198.6 million (2004)
• SICs: 3324 Shell Investment Foundries; 3499 Fabricated Metal Products.

Company Overview
"Imagination in Metallurgy" is more than the slogan of Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc. It is the key to the growth and success of this privately-held company founded in 1946 and headquartered in Milford, New Hampshire (USA). Hitchiner is the premier supplier of complete-to-print, high-volume, complex thin-wall investment castings and fully-finished casting-based subassemblies and components to industry. The company leads the industry in volume production, reduced lead-times and just-in-time manufacturing. Hitchiner produces castings in over 160 different alloys for a broad spectrum of global markets and customers that include the leaders in the automotive, aerospace, and other industries, such as: General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, BMW, Borg Warner, Siemens, B.F. Goodrich, Lockheed Martin, Textron, Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, Rolls Royce, and many more.

Hitchiner's global operation is based on four manufacturing divisions: the Ferrous-USA Division and the Gas Turbine Division, located in New Hampshire, USA; the Ferrous-Mexico Division, located in Santiago Tianguistenco, Mexico, and Hitchiner Manufacturing Company de Mexico, located in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. These divisions are supported by Metal Casting Technology, Inc. (MCT), a Hitchiner-General Motors Corporation joint venture research and development center located in Milford, New Hampshire.

Since its inception Hitchiner has defined "state-of-the-art" in the metal casting industry. In the 1960s, the company designed and built the first mechanized investment casting plant using automated shell-building equipment and conveyor systems. Hitchiner's exclusive countergravity casting techniques, pioneered in the 1970s, are generally considered to be one of the most significant advancement in casting technology. The advantages of countergravity casting are numerous and well documented. They include: cleaner metal with less slag and non-metallic inclusions; increased control of fluid flow; minimized metal turbulence; lower metal and mold temperatures; controlled grain structures; improved mold fill-out (especially in thin sections); and increased efficiency. In the decades since its initial development, the basic countergravity casting process has been refined, automated and enhanced with numerous technologies that make it now unrivaled in the industry.

Beyond the foundry, Hitchiner is a leader in applying the latest technology and controls to the shop floor throughout the manufacturing process. The use of computer-aided design and manufacturing facilitates a close working relationship with customers to design parts and components for maximum manufacturing efficiency. Robots are employed at various phases of production, particularly in shell building where the precise layering of slurry and stucco is critical to producing a consistent product. Numerically controlled machines are utilized in a variety of milling, boring, grinding, machining, and assembly operations to bring final dimensions to exact conformance with specification.

Meeting the technical requirements of a contract is essential, but not enough to maintain the advantage that Hitchiner holds in today's competitive marketplace. Customers demand and have come to expect a single source delivering fully-finished components, just-in-time, and ready for assembly into the final product. To meet these expectations, Hitchiner offers flexible manufacturing procedures, augmented by statistical controls, and teams of experts to provide service from design through quotation, sampling, production, finishing, assembly, and delivery.

Whether inventing new methods for casting or automating the shop floor, the company is constantly striving for new and better ways to create the best possible product. At all of its plants and divisions, Imagination in Metallurgy is the hallmark of Hitchiner's success.