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For 160 years, HWI has been working with companies to provide refractory solutions in virtually every industry on the planet. While our people and products have remained rock solid over time, laying the ground work of our legacy of excellence, our company is continuously evolving. Today we’re forging stronger relationships, better manufacturing processes, and higher safety standards. We’re creating an even greater culture of accountability. And this changes everything.

In February 2023, HWI joined forces with Calderys, a leading global provider for industries operating in high temperature conditions. The global Calderys Group specializes in thermal protection for industrial equipment with a wide range of refractory products, and advanced solutions to enhance steel casting, metallurgical fluxes and molding processes.

Along with Calderys, we have redefined our strategic direction with a focus on one unifying purpose: to help our partners from high temperature industries build a better world through sustainable solutions. We’re working to build a culture where every employee is empowered and driven to achieve the company’s key results.

Together, our core values set us apart:

  • We are tenacious.
  • We are accountable.
  • We are multicultural.
  • We are authentic.

What Happens in the Trenches?

What happens when every person at HWI approaches every task and every job with passion and dedication? We can deliver one of the refractory industry’s widest, deepest lines of solutions. We can be amazing problem solvers. We can provide ideas that move business forward.

Our people don’t work in a vacuum. They’re supported by a large manufacturing footprint. We make products throughout many North American locations. Our system of these manufacturing facilities, coupled with our unparalleled distribution centers, are intensely committed to delivering when the customer needs us through a best-in-class focus on safety and quality while optimizing inventory and cost.

At HWI, we cultivate a culture of safety for our employees and contractors. And we continually exceed customer expectations when it comes to safety performance and environmental compliance.

Safety is a priority at every HWI manufacturing plant, distribution center, service facility, and customer site. We will:

  • Lead a strong safety culture
  • Identify hazards and take immediate corrective action
  • Report incidents in real time and create protocols to prevent future incidents

Through this commitment, we can not only prevent injuries, we can make sure everyone goes home in a condition that’s the same as or better than when they came to work.

160 Years Worth Remembering

1865

JK. Lemon establishes Star Fire Brick Company in Pittsburgh, USA

1875

Hay Walker and Samuel P. Harbison purchase Star Fire Brick Company and form Harbison-Walker Refractories

1901

Harbison-Walker lands a contract from Kloman, Carnegie, and Company to build the Lucy Furnace, which at the time was the largest steelmaking blast furnace ever built.

1929

North American Refractories Company (NARCO) was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, to manufacture refractory cement designed to withstand very high temperatures.

1952

Harbison-Walker’s Windham, Ohio facility is hailed as the most advanced refractories plant in the world. Harbison-Walker has 32 plants in 11 states and Canada.

1959

Harbison-Walker invests $73 million in expansion during the 1950s, including a $2 million modern Garber Research Center, located in Pittsburgh.

1970

A.P. Green’s Mexico, Missouri plant is recognized as the world’s largest refractories plant under one roof.

1990

NARCO revolutionizes the ladle refractory market with the invention of COMANCHE

1995

As environmental concerns grew about chromia alumina refractories, Harbison Walker created the first reuse program for these products. Today, all suppliers of refractories to the glass industry have followed this lead.

2002

ANH Refractories is formed from the combination of A.P. Green, NARCO, and Harbison-Walker Refractories Companies

2015

ANH Refractories becomes HarbisonWalker International (HWI).

2017

HWI invests in constructing a new, state-of-the-art monolithic refractories manufacturing facility in South Point, Ohio. The plant opened in 2018.

2022

HWI invests to convert its Fairfield, Alabama plant into AL1, a manufacturing, service, and distribution hub for steel customers in the southern United States.

2023

Calderys and HarbisonWalker International are acquired by a privately owned company and merged to form the Calderys Group, with HWI becoming HWI, a member of Calderys and the brand for the Americas region of the Group.

2025

HWI continues investments in facilities across its Americas footprint and counts 25 manufacturing sites and 20 Distribution Centers.