What Acme Foundry does

Acme Foundry, Inc. is a privately held gray iron foundry established in 1905 in Coffeyville, Kansas. The company produces custom gray iron castings ranging from 1 to 300 lbs in up to Class 55 alloy grades, using 100% green sand molding with a maximum flask size of 24 x 36 x 24 inches and an annual capacity of approximately 25,000 tons of finished castings. Integrated in-house capabilities span core making, molding and melting (Osborn and Sinto automated lines plus a water-cooled cupola and Inductotherm holding furnace), shakeout and finishing (Aisco rotary shakeout, shot blast, grinding, and fiber-optic borescope inspection), and CNC precision machining through the wholly owned Magic Circle division, which operates 16 CNC machine tools and offers turnkey cast-and-machined components. The facility has grown from 8,200 square feet in 1914 to more than 300,000 square feet today, with 300+ employees, placing it among the roughly 6% of U.S. foundries that exceed 250 employees. The company is primarily employee-owned through an ESOP established in 1986, with the Tatman family holding significant ownership and management control since 1987-1988.

Acme's revenue model is project-based B2B custom manufacturing: customers submit specifications, tolerances, drawings, and patterns and receive quote-based pricing on each project, with billing structured around multi-year contracts. The go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales supported by a named sales team (Phil Zimmerman, Scott Tatman), inside sales via a website quote-request system, and content marketing through the company blog. Customer base exceeds 100 global clients, concentrated in fluid power (65% of parts produced) with secondary exposure to petro-chemical (10%), transmission machinery (10%), automotive and transportation, earth-moving equipment, and general industrial machinery. Geographic reach spans the United States, Mexico, and China, with end applications in hydraulic valves and pumps, oil and gas equipment, brake and powertrain components, and heavy machinery housings. Distribution is exclusively direct; there are no resellers or marketplace channels. The company holds ISO 9001:2015 certification, and Acme frames domestic U.S. production as a supply-chain resilience differentiator against offshore foundries.

Name

Acme Foundry

Legal name

Acme Foundry, Inc.

Website

https://acmefoundry.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1905

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Acme Foundry is a 1905-vintage, ESOP-owned U.S. gray iron foundry in Coffeyville, Kansas producing custom castings (25,000 tons/year) and integrated CNC machining for 100+ industrial customers in fluid power, petro-chemical, and heavy equipment.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Coffeyville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Custom Gray Iron Casting Services: Project-based custom manufacturing of gray iron castings ranging from simple to highly cored and complex components. Customers provide custom specs, tolerances, drawings and patterns. Pricing is quote-based for custom projects.
2. CNC Machining Services: Precision CNC machining services through Magic Circle division for customers requiring castings to be completely machined prior to shipment. Turnkey castings and components ready for installation or production.
3. Prototype to Production Services: Full range of services from prototype to production including design assistance, cost savings consultation, technical expertise, short lead-times, machining and on-time delivery.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Acme Foundry manufactures custom gray iron castings (1 to 300 lbs, up to Class 55 specialty alloys) using 100% green sand molding, in-house core making, automated molding, and post-casting finishing at a 300,000+ sq ft facility in Coffeyville, Kansas. Through its wholly-owned Magic Circle division, the company adds precision CNC machining to deliver fully machined, turnkey castings and components ready for installation. The integrated prototype-to-production offering serves industrial manufacturers across fluid power, petro-chemical, transmission, heavy equipment, and automotive sectors with ISO 9001:2015 certified quality.

Product overview

Acme Foundry is a family-owned gray iron foundry established in 1905, operating as a single unified manufacturing operation with integrated service modules rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core product is custom gray iron castings, supported by Magic Circle CNC Machining division for precision post-casting machining. Additional integrated capabilities include Core Room services for custom core-making, Molding & Melting services, and Finishing & Internal Cleanup & Shakeout services. The company produces castings ranging from 1 to 300 lbs in Class 55 gray iron, serving over 100 global clients primarily in fluid power (65%), transmission machinery (10%), petro-chemical (10%), and other sectors (15%).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Gray Iron Castings Custom engineered gray iron castings produced at Acme Foundry's Coffeyville, Kansas facility, ranging from 1 to 300 lbs and manufactured in up to Class 55 specialty alloy grades using 100% green sand molding. Built to customer-supplied specifications, tolerances, drawings and patterns, and serving B2B industrial manufacturers in fluid power, petro-chemical, transmission machinery, automotive, heavy equipment, and general industrial machinery applications. Production capacity is up to 25,000 tons of finished castings per year.
• Magic Circle CNC Machining Precision CNC machining division of Acme Foundry operating 16 CNC machine tools (Leblond Makino, Mori Seiki, Haas, Toyoda FMS, Wasino and others) to perform milling, turning, boring, reaming, and threading of castings. Custom fixturing capability reduces lead times by up to 80%, delivering turnkey machined castings and components ready for installation or production for industrial manufacturers.
• Core Room Services In-house core-making services producing custom engineered cores for complex internal cavity designs in gray iron castings. Equipment includes 12 B&P Shell Core Machines, 15 U180 Shalco Shell Core Machines, 1 HS-22L Redford Horizontal Part Shell Core Machine, 4 Vertical Parting Redford Cold Box Machines, 4 Horizontal Parting Redford Cold Box Machines, 1 B&P Core Blower, sand mixers, air set sand mixer, 2 Beardsly Piper Top Blow Core Machines, and a Horeback Core Dry Oven plus a Feco Automated Conveyor Core Oven.
• Molding and Melting Services Green sand molding and melting services using 100% green sand molding with maximum flask dimensions of 24 x 36 x 24 inches. Includes an Osborn 24 x 36 x 24 In-Line Molding Machine, 2 FBO II Sinto 16 x 20 Molding Machines, 1 FBO III Sinto 20 x 26 Molding Machine, 1 - 78 inch diameter water-cooled oxygen-injected Cupola, and 1 - 6 Ton Inductotherm Holding Furnace for gray iron melting.
• Finishing and Shakeout Services Post-casting finishing services including shakeout via 2 Aisco Rotary Shakeout Machines, shot blast cleaning (2 - 22 cu. ft., 1 - 11 cu. ft., 1 - 9 Station Index Hanger Type), 11 wall grinders, 11 finish grinders, and internal inspection using 60 fiber optic borescopes. Supports up to 25,000 tons of finished gray iron castings annually.

Quantifiable outcome

• Lead time reduction of up to 80% through custom fixturing capability at Magic Circle CNC division
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Lebanon Foundry: Pennsylvania-based gray and ductile iron foundry with CNC machining capabilities. Directly comparable to Acme's integrated casting and machining model serving industrial OEM customers.
• Dotson Iron Castings: Minnesota-based iron foundry producing gray and ductile iron castings up to 30,000 lbs. Comparable in process (green sand molding) and end-market focus on industrial machinery and heavy equipment.
• Neenah Foundry: U.S. iron foundry producing gray and ductile iron castings for municipal, industrial, and commercial applications. Directly comparable in process technology, end-markets, and integrated machining capabilities.
• Waupaca Foundry: One of the largest iron foundries in the United States, producing gray and ductile iron castings for automotive, commercial vehicle, and industrial markets. Most directly comparable to Acme in terms of gray iron casting focus, scale, and end-market exposure.
• Stainless Foundry & Engineering: Wisconsin-based ferrous metal foundry producing iron and steel castings with in-house machining and patternmaking capabilities. Comparable integrated casting and machining service model serving industrial OEM customers.
• Grede Holdings: Major U.S. producer of iron and steel castings serving automotive, heavy truck, industrial, and energy markets. Direct competitor with similar casting capabilities, vertical integration, and customer base overlap.
• Eagle Alloy: Michigan-based iron and steel casting producer serving industrial, automotive, and oil & gas customers. Comparable in mid-market size, custom casting focus, and industrial end-market exposure.
• Benton Foundry: Pennsylvania-based iron foundry producing gray and ductile iron castings for industrial machinery, valves, and pumps. Directly comparable in process technology, casting size range, and B2B industrial customer focus.

Broad incumbents

• American Cast Iron Pipe Company: Diversified iron products manufacturer including ductile iron pipe, fittings, and steel casting operations. Larger and more diversified than Acme, but operates iron foundries serving infrastructure and industrial markets.
• Charlotte Pipe and Foundry: Largest U.S. manufacturer of cast iron pipe and fittings, also operating iron foundries. Comparable in iron casting technology but serves primarily plumbing/construction end-markets rather than Acme's industrial OEM focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/acme-foundry-inc.

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Acme Foundry