From a small, family-owned business to a worldwide slurry pump manufacturer
GIW Industries Inc., leader in the design, manufacture, and application of heavy-duty, centrifugal slurry pumps, is proud to announce its 125th year in operation. The evolution from a local, family-owned business to a global supplier has spanned decades. Over the years, the company focus on supporting customer success has made GIW’s engineers, hydrologists, metallurgists, and foundry and manufacturing professionals the world’s leading slurry experts.
GIW began as a small foundry and machine shop in Augusta, Georgia, in 1891 under the name Georgia Iron Works. When GIW employees began building slurry pumps in 1914, they dove headfirst into their clients’ most demanding applications, using available technology to build the best equipment for their customers’ varied and complex environments. As the company has grown, this hands-on approach has taken employees around the globe to wherever leaders of mining, dredging, and industrial companies demand systems that expand the limits of moving slurry.
GIW experts developed many products when clients came to them with their most challenging requests. In the late 1940s, a phosphate company received a directive from its home office to use slurry pumps constructed with components of “hard” or “white” iron, instead of the conventional gray iron. GIW engineers began experimenting with Ni-Hard. Many early castings were scrapped, but through trial and error, GIW metallurgists produced the Gasite® family of white irons. This registered trade name is recognized around the world. It also serves as a great example of the lengths GIW employees will go to solve customers’ problems.
One of the major changes in the history of GIW was when KSB purchased 100% ownership in 1996. GIW continued to operate under the name GIW Industries until 2014, when its slurry products were officially rebranded as GIW® Minerals. Today, KSB and GIW offer single-source solutions for both water and slurry pump customers worldwide.
GIW pumps have been used all over the world in various industries including metals mining, industrial processes, waterway deepening, and beach restoration. GIW pumps were used to move the earth to create an island off the coast of Japan for the Kansai International Airport, and they were also used in the development of the Dubai islands. GIW has a standard catalog of pumps, which range in price from $10,000 to $500,000, but company experts can design and build custom pumps using a testing laboratory that is one of the most sophisticated in the world. Each year, GIW conducts about 150 in-house tests and about 75 tests for customers from all over the world.
Today, GIW has manufacturing locations in Thomson and Grovetown, Georgia, and service centers in Georgia; Lakeland, Florida; and Fort McMurray, Canada. Located in Columbia County, it is one of the county’s largest employers with over 600 people employed at the Grovetown facility. Recently, GIW expanded with the addition of a new foundry and distribution center. Both will be fully operational this year. We at GIW are proud that investing in these principles has taken the company from a local, family-run business to a global leader in the development and manufacture of slurry pumps. At GIW, customer success is the number-one priority.
For more information on the GIW Anniversary Celebration, view the commemorative March newsletter, The Flowsheet, at https://newsletters.updatesfrom.co/giw/2016/03/.
World-class GIW Minerals products are specially designed centrifugal pumps used to transport mixtures of liquids and solids — commonly referred to as slurry. GIW and KSB’s strong history together enables the companies to provide customers with well over a century’s worth of experience in pumps and slurry hydrotransport. KSB is a global business with the majority of its customers located outside the USA. Through our network of sales and service centers, we strive to be a trusted global partner.
