92 Business View - November 2015
MANUFACTURING
“We have a broad range of capabilities,” echoes Sud-
dreth. “It starts with the billets. We have our own foundry
so we cast our own metal.” (A “billet” of aluminum is a
block of solid aluminum that is forged at the foundry.)
“Aluminum oxide, alloyed elements, scraps – all of that
goes into the foundry and we cast our own billets,” says
Douglass. “And we’ve just put in additional foundry ca-
pabilities which increase our ability to utilize scrap. “We
don’t smelt our own aluminum,” adds Suddreth. “It’s
more of a re-melt. We take aluminum ‘prime’ and we al-
loy it into the various alloys that you would use to make
different products.”
The range of those different products that Aluminum
Shapes manufactures is truly prodigious, as are the vari-
ous markets which the company supplies with its high
quality components and subassemblies that utilize a
combination of extrusions, fabrications, welding, anod-
izing, and painting. The industries it services include:
Distribution; Transportation; Building & Construction; Du-
rable Consumer Goods; Electrical; Machinery & Equip-
ment; Automotive; Architectural; and Energy.
“A company can come to us and we can pretty much
make anything in the market,” declares Suddreth. “Take
transportation - go look at a tractor-trailer truck. You’re
going to see the big I-beams on the bottom. We can do
those. The floorboards – we can do those. The little side
rails – we can do those. The upright post – we can do
that. Those all require a different size press. And then,
we have a lot of down-stream operations: we have anod-
izing and finishing that we can provide for customers. It’s
a one-stop- shop, so if you need an anodized product, we
can cast it, extrude it, anodize it, and send it to you. We
