3/30/2016 11:14:00 AM
NEWS BRIEFS
Indiana Plant Fire Destroys Zinc Plating Line
Firefighters extinguished a fire involving one plating machine plus electrical conduit lines at Rightway Fasteners in Indiana. The fire at the automotive fastener supplier was reported close to midnight March 29, 2016.
Columbus, IN, television station WAVE reported that as “firefighters approached the five building complex, they were informed by company representatives that all the buildings had been evacuated and that a machine was on fire in the zinc plating building, a 37,000 sq. ft. building within the complex.”
Fire crews followed intense heat to locate the fire about 300 feet within the building. It was isolated to one zinc plating machine and electrical conduit lines.
Rightway general manager Ron Miller told WAVE the fire destroyed the machine and damaged ventilation systems.
Miller said Rightway produces more than one million bolts per day. With the zinc plating line down, fasteners will be shipped to Kentucky for plating.
Miller said the zinc plating line, which has been in use since 1998, had been scheduled to be replaced in 2017.
In 2013 Rightway Fasteners received a 10-year tax abatement approved by the city council for personal property, primarily equipment imported from Japan for installation. Rightway said the abatement protected 298 jobs plus would add five jobs averaging $11 per hour.
Columbus is a city of 44,000 population 40 miles south of Indianapolis.
Founded in 1991 as Indiana Metal Coatings, the company became a joint venture with four Japanese-owned companies in 1995: Meidoh Co. Ltd, Nagoya Dacro, Toyota Tsusho America and Sannohashi.
RFI specializes in cold forming, thread rolling, heat treatment and surface treatment of high torque tension bolts, shafts and pins and supplies specialty screws and other cold formed parts. Rightway has a facility in Detroit and is headquartered at 7945 S. International Dr., Columbus, IN 47201. Tel: 812 342-2700 or 800 229-2720 Web: rfiusa.com
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