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About Magnolia Metal Corporation
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Magnolia
Metal Corporation began business in 1886 with a technical innovation in
the then new bearing industry: the invention of lead-based babbitt metal.
More effective and less expensive than tin-based babbitt, "Magnolia Anti-Friction"
was soon being shipped around the world. 110 years later, this product line
comprises only 1% of our sales, but the innovation continues. Originators
of CDA 936 bearing bronze, this alloy targets customers with difficult applications.
Built on quality and customer service, the company ships world-wide, and
during the last 10 years, returns have averaged less than 1/2 of 1 per cent.
Comprised of a foundry and machine shop located in Auburn, Nebraska, with
a sales and accounting office in Omaha, Magnolia is really three companies
under one roof.  Continuous
cast bronze is produced on one of three vertical units in diameters up to
12 1/2 inches, and in several alloys. Bars are cast in over 300 standard
sizes, in special shapes and sizes, and in stock lengths of 105" or up to
144". Nominal sizes have enough overage to permit finishing to listed dimensions.
These bars are sold with only a $100 minimum order charge. A large inventory
permits same day or next day shipment from stock  Blanks
up to 34" O.D. are cast in slowly rotated meehanite molds, and can be machined
to require merely a final finished cut at the customer's installation site.
This semi-finishing step is also performed on continuous cast bars to provide
a customer with a part one step away from use. Purchasing a semi-machined
flanged part is often less expensive than the customer buying a cylinder
and rough machining it himself in-house. Completely finished parts made to the customer's blueprint and specifications can be machined in our CNC equipped machine shop. Magnolia is competitive in quantities of from just a few pieces to up to a thousand, and strongest in larger parts, with diameters over two inches. A strong quality control system gives some customers the confidence to have Magnolia direct ship their parts on their own bills of lading.  Often
Magnolia's CDA 936 alloy is specified for applications. Other, non-standard
alloys, are also available to serve customer's needs. Customers are also diverse...Distributors are primarily copper and brass warehouses, bearing houses, and general industrial supply companies. Direct customers are found in ail segments of heavy industry, with large concentration in pumps, compressors, oil refining, crushers steel mills and most large, slowly rotating equipment. Interestingly, the company's second largest industry group is other bronze producers, who either purchase bronze that we can supply more cost effectively than they produce, or leaded alloys they no longer can or will cast, particularly in light of dramatically more stringent OSHA regulations that became effective July 1996. Magnolia Metal has just completed an 80% increase in the machine shop area. As OSHA and EPA restrictions concerning lead have intensified, Magnolia Metal has met the challenge in two ways: first, by investing in the foundry to insure the ability to continue to produce leaded alloys, and secondly, by developing a bearing alloy that does not contain lead. Magnolia's B-1 Lead-Free bronze received its patent in May, 1995, and has grown rapidly in sales since, being specified in new applications for the company. European patents on the material have been approved. In fitting historic irony, this new lead- free bronze has surpassed the sales of the lead-based babbitt that began the company. |
Magnolia
Metal Corporation has been in the metal casting industry for over one
hundred years and is still providing customers with quality products and
great service. Although bronze castings are their specialty, they also
make bearings and even use lead-free B-1® bronze for castings. Discover
for yourself why so many companies are specifying Magnolia's bronze castings
and bearings... Bronze is simply the best! 
