Kanthal, a global resistance materials producer, announced that it has inaugurated a new wire manufacturing facility at its Hosur campus in India that features advanced automated processes, advanced die maintenance, fully automated spooling operations and state-of-the-art quality control and material handling systems.

A press release said that with the new 1,980-sq-m facility, Kanthal will more than triple its production capacity at the Hosur plant. The initiative was taken to optimize production capacity globally and to offer shorter lead times across Asia.

Kanthal established the Hosur plant in 1988. Since then, the company’s activities in the country have expanded and today, with India as one of Kanthal’s key geographical areas, the Hosur manufacturing facility has grown in importance. The expansion will enable the unit to cater to local markets in India as well as Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Korea, Japan, China, and selected parts of Europe. “This strategic investment enables us to meet the growing demand for fine dimension wire with fast lead times in Asia,” said Kanthal President Robert Stål.

Blachford Chemical Group announced that it has acquired Baum’s Castorine (Baum’s), combining two companies with over 250 years of innovation in specialty chemical manufacturing.

A press release said that Baum’s, based in Rome, New York, provides specialty lubricants, greases, and chemical products for the wire drawing, tube and metal-working industries, as well as transportation and industrial markets. Per both companies, Baum’s Castorine will be integrated into Blachford’s global chemical group, leveraging shared resources and expertise to expand product offerings.

Baum’s specific product lines include the Dura Draw series of nonferrous wire drawing lubricants—such as Dura Draw 891 and Dura Draw 895—for copper, brass, and tin-plated copper wire applications; the Tena-Film line of industrial oils, anti-wear and extreme pressure greases (such as Tena-Film No. 300-LTH and No. 150-TH oils); specialty maintenance products for bearings and equipment operating in demanding environments; metalworking fluids; cutting oils; coolant conditioners; and stranding lubricants. It also supplies specialty fire suppression agents under the Novacool® brand, as well as industrial cleaners and surfactants for equipment maintenance.

According to Blachford, the acquisition is expected to build on longstanding reputations for technical excellence and service, with Baum’s product lines of lubricants, process oils and additives complementing Blachford’s existing portfolio of metalworking fluids, anti-tack agents, rolling oils and additives. The combination will strengthen distribution channels in North America and globally, giving customers more options and technical support.

Details of the transaction—including financial terms and transition plans—were not disclosed, but officials said that Baum’s Castorine, founded in 1879, will retain its core team and continue serving under the Blachford umbrella.

Marlin Steel President Drew Greenblatt was presented the 2025 Metalworking Reshoring Award during an industry ceremony held September 11 in recognition of leadership in reshoring and domestic manufacturing.

A press release said that the award, which recognizes companies that have successfully brought metalworking operations back to the U.S., was presented by the Reshoring Initiative in partnership with the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), SME, the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association (FMA), and the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA).

Marlin Steel reshored multiple production lines from overseas, spanning industries including medical devices, food processing and aerospace. Even high-volume commodity items such as pail handles were reshored by applying advanced automation, consistent quality control, and dependable turnaround.

One cited example was that of a U.S.-based buyer who previously sourced from Mexico that moved production of 1,500 custom wire racks to Marlin’s operations in Indiana, with final powder coat painting completed in Michigan. These racks had historically been manufactured in Mexico, but were brought back to the United States to improve turnaround time, simplify logistics, and increase product consistency.

Insights from the 2025 Reshoring Initiative Reshoring Survey further underscore why Marlin’s model works. The survey found that key factors enabling reshoring include skilled workforce training, close collaboration between supply chain and customer engineering, and fast delivery. Marlin’s embodiment of all three has been central to its reshoring success and played a direct role in winning the award.

Marlin Steel expects its reshored revenue to double or even triple in 2026, depending on the volume of upcoming projects, reflecting growing momentum behind reshoring growth fueled by favorable tariff and trade policies.

Charter Steel has significantly expanded its steel wire production capacity in 2025 with a $22.8 million investment focused on its Fostoria, Ohio and Saukville, Wisconsin facilities.

A press release said that the expansion includes the installation of four new wire draw machines at Fostoria and one new draw machine at Saukville. The Fostoria facility was also expanded by about 42,000 sq ft. Three machines are already installed and in the validation phase, while two more are expected to be operational by early 2026.

The move was expected to triple Charter Steel’s wire draw output, supporting customer demand for comprehensive and reliable steel solutions. The upgrades are designed to allow customers to interact with a single, consistent team for the entire steelmaking process—from melting and rolling to processing and finishing—streamlining purchasing with “one-stop shopping” for finished products. The expansion will create about 15 new jobs at Fostoria to staff the additional wire draw machines.

Leggett & Platt (L&P) recently closed the sale of its Aerospace Products Group (APG), an entity outside of its wire production that makes highly engineered tube and duct assemblies for commercial and military aircraft, as part of the company’s ongoing restructuring that started in 2024.

A press release said that the sale of APG, which has seven manufacturing facilities in the U.S., U.K. and France, is expected to net $250 million. The company plans to use most of those funds to pay down debt and strengthen the company’s balance sheet.

The sale was the latest news in a story that traces back to late 2023 when demand for both traditional innerspring bedding and wire grid components faltered. In January 2024, the company announced a sweeping plan in its annual report that called for at least 10 wire-focused plants—integral to the production of springs and mattress foundations—to be either closed or merged. A total of 20 overall plants were targeted.

Per financial media and company reports, the net result is that all wire production is now in four U.S. locations. The latest L&P plant to be closed was the one in Plant City, Florida, where more than 80 employees were let go as operations wound down by the end of the midpoint of 2025. The L&P specialty springs plant in High Point, North Carolina, was closed in September 2024, affecting 158 workers.

Other closures include the Saltillo, Mississippi plant (130 jobs lost in 2024) and the Commerce, California facility (impacting 55 staff). In addition to those plants, four smaller spring and wire operations were consolidated into remaining regional hubs. The actions were deemed needed to improve efficiency, reduce costs and align production capacity with new realities of market demand.

L&P indicated that the final wave of restructuring will be completed by the end of 2025, with ongoing efforts to make its wire business leaner and better positioned for future growth.

Tele-Fonika Kable has secured a contract to supply the onshore export cable system for Poland’s BC-Wind offshore wind farm.

A press release said that the order from Ocean Winds calls for the delivery of approximately 23 km of 275 kV high-voltage cable, fiber optic cable and dedicated accessories. Based in Spain, Ocean Winds is a 50-50 joint venture owned by EDP Renewables and ENGIE that develops offshore wind farms worldwide.

Tele-Fonika Kable Board Member Piotr Mirek said that manufacturing is planned for the fourth quarter of 2026 at the company’s Bydgoszcz facility. Its responsibilities will also include comprehensive post-installation testing of the entire cable line.

The onshore section, approximately 8 km in length, will connect the landfall point in the Choczewo municipality to the new onshore substation, with construction scheduled to begin in 2026. The BC-Wind offshore wind farm will be located north of the Krokowa and Choczewo municipalities in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Its capacity is planned to be up to 390 MW.

The project has obtained environmental permits for its onshore and offshore components as well as a Contract for Difference (CfD). The contract, while signed, is pending final approval via an obligatory final investment decision (FID).

Bechem, Germany’s oldest specialty lubricant manufacturer with over 190 years of expertise, announced the acquisition of CLC Lubricants, a U.S.-based producer of industrial oils, metalworking fluids, and cleaners, effective Aug. 8, 2025.

A press release said that the strategic move establishes Bechem’s first wholly owned production facility in the U.S., located in Geneva, Illinois. It said that CLC Lubricants is a small, privately held company with approximately 23-35 employees and estimated annual revenue between $4.6 million and $5.7 million. The company, which operates from a 27,000-sq-ft facility in Geneva, Illinois, has been in business since 1976.

CLC Lubricants was described as having nearly 50 years of experience and a strong market position, holding ISO 9001:2015 certification, and deep technological expertise. The acquisition enhances Bechem’s global presence and furthers expansion of its footprint in North America following the establishment of Bechem Lubrication Technology in 2014 and Bechem Mexico in 2017.

The CLC Lubricants brand and product portfolio will be retained and complemented by Bechem’s offerings, ensuring continuity for customers. “We are excited to welcome CLC Lubricants into the Bechem family,” said a Bechem spokesperson. “This acquisition strengthens our ability to serve our loyal and future customers with an expanded portfolio, including cleaners and additional domestically produced oils, backed by our shared values of service and innovation.

Governor JB Pritzker joined Manner Polymers, state officials and local leaders on August 28 to cut the ribbon on the company’s new $54 million, 108,000-sq-ft solar-powered manufacturing facility in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

A press release said that the new plant will expand the company’s annual production capacity by 80 million pounds. Its flexible PVC compounds are used for wire and cable, hose and tube, profile extrusion, and sheet products. The plant has a 15-acre solar field, along with additional roof-mounted solar panels, designed to generate nearly all of the electricity the facility requires for its operations. It will provide some 60 jobs.

Manner Polymers CEO Raj Bhargava said that the company’s vision was clear when the expansion project was announced in 2023. That was to “build the lowest cost, highest quality, most environmentally sustainable flexible PVC compounding plant in the world. Not only will we incorporate the most advanced manufacturing control systems available, but we will also produce substantially all the electricity that we use.”

As part of the incentive package, the state of Illinois provided $2.5 million in infrastructure for a new rail spur, which provides direct access to Southern Illinois’ network of rail.

Hitachi Energy has announced a landmark investment of over $1 billion to expand its power transformer manufacturing capacity for critical electrical grid infrastructure in the U.S.

A press release said that a centerpiece of this investment plan is the construction of a new facility in South Boston, Virginia. It will be strategically located by an existing Hitachi Energy plant that makes transformers, allowing seamless integration between transformer manufacturing and cable production, both central components in the push to modernize and expand America’s electric grid.

Hitachi—through its subsidiary Proterial Cable America (formerly Hitachi Cable America)—owns and operates a cable manufacturing plant in Manchester, New Hampshire. This facility produces copper and fiber optic communication cables for the U.S. market, and it is the only large-scale communications cable manufacturing plant that Hitachi owns in the United States.

JDR Cable Systems (JDR), part of the TFKable Group, has won a contract from Liverpool Bay CCS Limited to provide subsea power cables for the Liverpool Bay CO2 Transportation and Storage project.

A press release said that JDR will deliver approximately 100 km of 33 kV subsea cables to power repurposed offshore platforms in Liverpool Bay. The contract has four cables: a primary one linking the shore to the first offshore platform, and three infield cables connecting multiple additional platforms. These platforms will be essential for the injection of CO₂ into depleted offshore reservoirs, forming the backbone of the HyNet North West industrial decarbonization cluster.

The Liverpool Bay area, part of the Irish Sea between northeast Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside in northwest England, is a key location for offshore energy projects.