White Cloud, MI Plant Celebrates Milestone

Tomorrow, our White Cloud, Michigan plant will celebrate it’s 45th year in operation!

​​​​​​​After construction began on White Cloud in 1976, the plant shipped its first brick  in 1977 with only 31 employees on one shift and just two Boyd presses in operation.  Since then, the plant has continued to grow and innovate with technological improvements as well as a group of employees that strive to make HWI the first and only call in the refractory business.

Within the last few years, HWI was able to celebrate completion of the first phase of an expansion that increases the floor space of White Cloud by 35%. The project was part of a $9 million investment being made to significantly increase warehousing space along with the addition of new, advanced manufacturing and hydraulic press technologies.

HWI’s White Cloud operations primarily produces refractory products that are utilized by the steel industry. This is the latest in a series of capital investments that HWI has made at White Cloud over the past few years. In 2018, HWI integrated new equipment and technologies to modernize the facility.

Mirroring its steel customers’ investments to boost production capabilities and upgrade facilities, HWI announced in May 2019 that it would be investing to increase capacity by 25% in 2019 at key steel refractory facilities.

“White Cloud is an extremely important facility that has been vital to our company and the community for more than four decades,” said Carol Jackson, chairman and CEO at HWI. “Historically, and especially in the past two years, the team at White Cloud has helped fuel our steel industry customers’ success by consistently delivering on their tremendous demand for the refractory products we produce here. We’re so proud of the great work our White Cloud employees do every day for our company and our customers.”