LA Aluminum Casting Co., the Hayden, Idaho-based metal foundry, says it has added a new line of equipment that's resulted in a 20 percent increase in sales during the last several months, and it expects to see that double-digit growth continue.

Earlier this spring, the foundry installed customizable metal powder-coating equipment that can accommodate a wide range of part sizes, says Michelle Richter, its sales and marketing manager. She says the company wasn't able to powder coat parts in-house previously.

Porous metals, such as aluminum, steel, and iron, are powder coated to seal out moisture and prevent corrosion, and to create a smooth surface finish, Richter says.

The addition of the powder-coating equipment comes after the foundry earlier this year completed a $1 million, 10,000-square-foot expansion at its headquarters, located at 1905 W. Miles, in Hayden. That additional space made it possible for the foundry to accommodate the large ovens and spray booths used to powder coat metal parts, she says.

The casting company's move to install its own powder-coating system will save it about $50,000 a month, she says. Before putting in that system, LA Aluminum was contracting that work out to Spectrum Powder Coating, also of Hayden.

"That cuts down costs, and now we can offer casting and machining in one package, or just powder coating alone," Richter says. She adds that if the foundry gets a request for a powder-coating job that it's unable to do, it would refer those clients to Spectrum.

Powder coating is necessary for many of the parts that LA Aluminum casts for original equipment manufacturers, Richter says. The new equipment enables LA Aluminum not only to coat parts it manufactures for its clients, but it also can coat customers' products that are manufactured elsewhere.

Richter says that while the equipment was a $225,000 investment, the company already has seen its revenue increase by the about 20 percent since it began using it in late March. She adds that she anticipates LA Aluminum's sales will rise by about 15 percent during its current fiscal year, which started on July 1.

So far the foundry has received powder-coating jobs from Southwest Windpower, a Flagstaff, Ariz.-based wind turbine manufacturer, and from six dental-care equipment manufacturers, she says.

Richter says Southwest Windpower formerly had some of its wind-turbine components made by a Chinese-based manufacturer, but because of the poor quality of the coatings on those parts, it recently opted to contract with LA Aluminum for that work. She says the foundry is casting and coating five different components of Southwest Windpower's small-sized wind turbines, and that the foundry is producing about 1,000 of those parts each month.

Richter says the powder-coating equipment line includes three ovens and two spray booths that are used to apply the coatings. She says that in the multistep process, the metal pieces first are thoroughly cleaned and sealed to ensure that the coating adheres. The parts then are pre-heated and sprayed with a base coat—and sanded if needed—before going into the second oven for the coating to be heated and set. In the last step, Richter says, the parts are sprayed with a final coat before being baked a third time.

She says the system allows LA Aluminum's workers to coat up to 200 pieces at a time, depending on their size. The parts are placed on movable racks that are wheeled in and out of the 16-foot-by-20 foot ovens, she says. She adds that one of the most beneficial aspects of the coating system is the ability for LA Aluminum to handle parts ranging in size from a tiny metal casting to one that's eight feet wide and eight feet long.

Richter says LA Aluminum is considering making a few other investments in new machinery in the coming year, including a new sand core machine that would allow the foundry to make molds for smaller part orders at a lower cost.

She says a second piece of equipment it's looking into is a high-tech machining center that would enable the company's technicians to produce some of its metal parts more efficiently. She estimates that those two pieces of machinery together would cost $600,000 or more.