As world aluminum prices go, so go the fortunes of Wagstaff Inc., a 61-year-old Spokane Valley company that makes equipment for the aluminum-casting industry. Right now, aluminum prices are hot, and theyre expected to remain so for the foreseeable future.


They were hovering around $1.10 a pound last week, which was down from a spike of more than $1.40 a year and a half ago, but still far above the roughly 60 cents the metal was fetching just four years ago. Similarly, Wagstaffs sales and the size of its work force here have been climbing.


The company doesnt disclose its revenues, but sales were up a combined 24 percent over the last two years, says Paul May, its CEO. Theyre projected to rise about 6 percent this year, and probably 8 percent to 10 percent next year, May says. As of last week, the company employed 309 workers, 261 of them here, and it expects to add another 18 to 25 employees in 2008.


Next year is going to be a good, strong year for us, May says.


Perhaps more significantly, he says industry analysts expect the aluminum market to remain strong until 2015, if not longer, due mostly to rising global demand for the versatile metal in some of the worlds larger, developing countries.


Not content, though, to remain captive to the vagaries of a single market, Wagstaff is working through its applied-technologies division to expand steadily into custom machining, particularly for the nuclear industry, May says.


Noting that proposals for more than two dozen nuclear power plants are said to be in the works in the U.S., he says, I think it has a lot of potential for the future. Although expanding into that sector isnt a natural extension for Wagstaff, he says, Its a diversification that we think will help us.


Wagstaffs main focus, though, continues to be providing the machinery, technology, and related services that enable aluminum producers to transform the metal from its molten form into solid shapes safely while using whats called direct chill casting.


The company manufactures everything from molds and casting machines to the automation systemsincluding computer hardware and softwareused to operate the machines, then helps oversee installation of the systems.


The direct chill casting process uses water to chill the molten aluminum shortly after it has been poured, so it solidifies quickly into the desired shapeseither cylindrical billets, also called rounds, or ingots, also called slabs. The water doesnt contact the metal while its still a liquid, but rather cools the molds through which the molten aluminum passes, then coats the solidified hot metal to cool it further. The billets and ingots later are rolled or extruded to create products.


The molds are the heart of Wagstaffs aluminum-casting systems, but hydraulically operated casting cylinders probably are the most visually striking pieces of equipment the company makes, because of their sheer size. They look somewhat like rockets, with cone-shaped heads at one end but no tail fins at the other end. Theyre installed deep in the ground, imbedded securely into pits made of thick concrete, and are used to raise and lower the bed, called a platen, on which the billets or ingots are cast. The cone-shaped head of the machine actually is the fixed housing through which a ram passes.


The company has made the casting cylinders in sizes ranging from 12 to 32 inches in diameter and with strokes, or total movement range, of 15 to 38 feet. The largest one it has producedfor a customer in Russiaweighed 52 tons.


The casting cylinders are just part of a larger system that includes tilting mold tables into which molten aluminum is poured, as well as the molds themselves and other components. As the molten aluminum is poured into the molds and solidifies, the cylinder gradually lowers the platen, on which the billets or ingots rest, into the pit, away from the mold table, which is anchored to the edge of the pit. Once the cylinder reaches the bottom of its stroke, and the billets or ingots have fully hardened, the mold table is tilted back out of the way to allow them to be removed.


May says the equipment that Wagstaff manufactures has become more sophisticated in recent years, but otherwise hasnt changed much.


What has changed the most is where our customers are, he says.


Export customers now account for about 80 percent of Wagstaffs revenues, up from 20 percent in the early 1980s, and the company now serves customers in 54 countries, he says. Its customers include Alcoa Inc., Alcan Inc., Novelis Inc., and Kaiser Aluminum Corp.


About 30 percent of Wagstaffs new orders this year are coming from China, but a couple of years ago the company was getting more orders from Russia and the Persian Gulf, and in the near future it might be India that rises to the front of the pack, May says.


India is kind of coming up to speed like China has been, he says.


Chinas rising industrialization has captured considerable attention as it impacts markets around the world. May says China currently is exporting aluminum because it is producing more than it needs, but he expects that situation to reverse in coming years as internal demand for the metal soars.


He says the weakened U.S. dollar, which has made Wagstaffs products more affordable overseas, has contributed to the companys stronger sales over the last couple of years.


That definitely has been an advantage to us, May says.


Along with its efforts to diversify, May says, one of Wagstaffs biggest challenges is finding qualified machinists and other skilled laborers as it expands. The companys difficulty in filling some of those job openings is due partly to the current low unemployment rate, but May contends there also isnt enough emphasis in high schools now on educating students about, or steering them towards, possible careers in skilled-labor fields.


Its very disappointing, he says.


That labor shortage is a long-term, national concern, and likely will worsen as current skilled laborers begin to retire in greater numbers, he says. He notes that about 30 percent of Wagstaffs employees are over 50 years of age.


The company has a good wage-and-benefit package that includes a bonus program tied to profits, May says, adding that as part of an effort to minimize turnover.


He is a member of a manufacturing roundtable group at Greater Spokane Incorporated that is evaluating whats being offered at Spokane-area schools to prepare students for possible skilled-labor jobs and how to raise awareness of the need for more skilled laborers.


Wagstaff hires graduates of machine-technology programs at community colleges, but, The problem is, they cant get new students in who want to prepare for careers in those fields, May says.


Wagstaffs main complex is located on a 14-acre site at 3910 N. Flora, just east of the Spokane Business & Industrial Park. Its facility there includes about 102,000 square feet of manufacturing space in three buildings, about 10,000 square feet of office space adjoining its largest building there, and a 14,400-square-foot research-and-development building. It recently expanded into a newly constructed building there that gave it about 30,000 square feet of additional space.


Wagstaff also operates a 57,000-square-foot plant in Hebron, Ky., that employs 34 people and feeds the Spokane plant with rough machine parts and some smaller finished parts, May says.


Bill Wagstaff, president and chairman, and four of his children own the company. May and Mike Wagstaff, Bill Wagstaffs son, were named to newly created CEO posts for the Spokane and Hebron operations, respectively, in January after Bill, now 71, decided to give them more day-to-day control of the company.


Three of Bill Wagstaffs children and two of his sons-in-law work in the business, May says. In addition to Mike Wagstaff, the other one who is in management is son-in-law Ken Parkes, who is the companys chief financial officer, he says.


Bill Wagstaffs father, George, a skilled machinist, founded the company here in 1946, trading machine work for his first lathe. The business focused initially on general parts repair and limited manufacturing. Bill Wagstaff joined the company in 1958 after earning a degree in mechanical engineering at Utah State University. At around that same time, the company took its first steps toward development of aluminum-casting systems by making components for Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp.s Mead smelter.


Bill Wagstaff and his brother, Frank, bought the company from their parents in 1970, and Frank sold his interest in the company about six years ago and now is retired, May says.


May joined Wagstaff right out of college in 1969, starting out there as a mechanical engineer. He worked there for 21 years, rising to plant manager, and left for 12 years to work for another company here. He returned to Wagstaff five years ago, becoming vice president of manufacturing operations, and was promoted from that position to CEO.


Contact Kim Crompton at (509) 344-1263 or via e-mail at kimc@spokanejournal.com.