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Counting on Aluminum Cars
Hazelett Strip-Casting Corporation If you have opened a can of soup, cooked it in an aluminum pan, wrapped leftover food in aluminum foil or paid for some-thing using pennies, you have undoubtedly come into contact with something produced from metal cast by the Hazelett Twin-Belt Caster. The machine produces metal sheets and rods, which are eventually incorporated into many products we use every day. The process was developed in the late 1940s by Clarence Hazelett, founder of Hazelett Strip-Casting Corp. His son, William, continues to run the family business with the help of his son, daughter and son-in-law. Called continuous metal casting, the process transforms molten metal from its liquid state to solid slabs or rods and, ultimately, to sheets or wires. These are subsequently processed into a variety of end products like aluminum foil or tin cans. What is significantly different about the Hazelett process is that the metal sheets and rods are produced in one continuous step. Traditional production in "hot mills" includes casting, cooling and individually reheating and rolling the sheets and rods. The advantage of the Hazelett process is that it requires less equipment and lower capital cost, and greatly reduces energy consumption. Today there are 65 Hazelett casting machines around the world. More than 70 percent of the business is overseas and the export of spare parts and servicing of the machines continues to rise steadily as an important part of the business. Started in Connecticut, the business was moved to Vermont by William Hazelett "because I like snow and skiing." The 82- year-old company president still skis; he also pilots, along with his wife, the four planes they own. And he is still actively involved in the business. Hazelett believes the company has a shining future - and the federal Small Business Administration agrees, picking his company as the 2001 Small Business Exporter of the Year. "There's no limit to what we can do," Hazelett says, "because this process is a wholly different way of casting metals. Our biggest area of growth is going to be aluminum for car body sheets. We're close to developing aluminum of high enough quality for cars. And there won't be any more large hot mills built for aluminum." As Hazelett looks toward the future, he does not forget the past and the legacy of his father. "My father said, 'Don't ever work for money,'" says Hazelett. "'Work on what you like to do and live on what you make.' We do this work because we enjoy what we're doing." |
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