GIW Industries Inc., the leader in the design, manufacture, and application of heavy-duty centrifugal slurry pumps, is proud to announce its foundry grand opening. The foundry is part of a large expansion that includes a new distribution center, additional heat-treat and casting cleaning facilities, CNC machines, and an assembly center.

This expansion is one of the largest in the company’s history and is the biggest project ever undertaken by GIW, a fully owned subsidiary of KSB. The foundry construction and related expansion projects are just the first phase in a path of continuous investment for the company. Phase one included the new foundry, which features 72-foot ceilings and is about the size of a football field. These new facilities will more than triple GIW’s current manufacturing capability.

Long term, this expansion will give GIW and KSB a significant advantage in the mining market. The investment will allow for better handling of the sizeable castings needed by GIW’s customers; some produced by GIW can weigh well over 40,000 pounds and are bigger than a cement truck. This expansion will allow GIW to keep up with current market demand and to be able to quickly adapt to support future growth.

GIW Industries Inc. was established as a small, family-owned foundry and machine shop in 1891 — known then as Georgia Iron Works. By 1914, the company was supplying slurry pumps to the Florida phosphate industry. Over the years, GIW became known for its severe-abrasive handling pumps and began a century of facility expansion and technology growth. In 1996, GIW became a wholly owned subsidiary of KSB, and in 2014, the GIW^® Minerals brand was established. Through the GIW^® Minerals product brand, KSB strives to be an innovative partner that provides its customers with the best and longest-wearing slurry solutions for the mining, dredge, and industrial process industries.

Located in Columbia County since 1970, GIW has been a major contributor to the county’s strong economic growth. As one of the county’s largest employers, GIW currently employs over 600 people at the Grovetown facility. Since 2004, the company has more than doubled its employees, and with current expansion, the company will grow and provide more quality jobs for Columbia County residents. At one time, GIW considered locating the proposed expansion in Canada to be closer to one of its largest target markets, but ultimately decided to continue to invest in Columbia County.

The newly expanded Grovetown foundry is now the No. 1 white-iron foundry in the world, boasting state-of-the-art equipment, highly efficient workflows, top safety features, and significantly greater capacity for both output and storage of very large slurry pump parts.

“There are places around the world that make a high-chrome iron, but not anything like our proprietary alloys. It’s these alloys that make GIW products unique and enable us to deliver incredibly long wear life for our products,” Richard Sterzen, Manager of Industrial Engineering, explains.

Work on the new distribution center is currently underway and is slated to be completed in mid-2016. The building will initially be 59,000 square feet, but is designed with options for increased capabilities to allow for future expansion.

GIW^® Minerals’ world-class products are specially designed centrifugal pumps used to transport a mixture of liquids and solids — commonly referred to as slurry. GIW’s strong history enables the company to provide customers with well over a century’s worth of experience in pumps and slurry hydrotransport. GIW 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.