Humtown Diversifies ‘Core’ Materials
Humtown Products is poised for tremendous growth in 2020.
As the company maintains “healthy production activity” at its conventional core plant in Columbiana, it plans to expand 3D sand-printing operations at its Leetonia plant and implement metal additive-manufacturing technologies into its portfolio of products and services, says President Mark Lamoncha.
Humtown has made a strategic decision to expand 3D printing operations and take a leadership role by encouraging broader adoption of the technology among original equipment manufacturers and foundries.
This has enabled the company to get customer products to market faster by eliminating the need for tooling to create cores. And it has lowered overall capital investment, according to Lamoncha.
“2019 was an exciting year as we added our third 3D sand printer in Leetonia,” he reports. “Our capacity has grown to 125 tons of sand per month, equivalent to an entire rail car full of sand. We have become a major influencer in the national and global metal casting industry.”
As it expands 3D printing with sand and metal, Humtown plans to invest in human capital and increase sales by developing global partnerships to support production across the metal-casting industry.
This comes with its own set of challenges as the industry still requires education regarding implementation, Lamoncha says, and infrastructure must be created nationwide to increase large casting production.
In 2019, the company president was named “entrepreneur of the year” by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. And his patented Visual Earnings System was accepted into the inaugural class of the gBeta program offered through the Youngstown Business Incubator.
“To encourage employee retention,” Lamoncha says, “we developed real-time earning incentives for our industrial athletes to self-motivate performance. We provide self-development presentations and training programs; we shorten work days to six hours; we provide food throughout the week, and team lunches at our Friday locker-room sessions.”
Humtown also involves and engages K-12 and college students with tours and presentations at its manufacturing facilities, he continues. “Our team partners with schools to provide curriculum and research projects to help students problem-solve, connect, engage and integrate their thinking.”
Last year the company partnered with Silver Apple and Crestview School District to introduce a hands-on learning curriculum to elementary school students that is aimed at fostering an interest in future manufacturing careers.
The family-owned company was founded in 1959.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
