What Dotson Iron Castings does

MPS Mankato (formerly Dotson Iron Castings) is a ductile iron jobbing foundry founded in 1876 in Mankato, Minnesota, and acquired by MacLean Power Systems in May 2023. The company produces ductile iron castings in the 2-50 pound range at a capacity of 120 tons per day, using green sand molding on horizontal 20x24 machines, fully automated Laempe cold-box core production, 100% autopouring (the only North American jobbing foundry operating this way), and a VIP Dual-Trak 3,500 kW induction melt deck. Engineering capabilities include Magma solidification modeling and the Sinto enVision Industry 4.0 analytics platform, with documented output of 10% mold productivity improvement and 18% reduction in preventative maintenance time.

The business model is a vertically integrated one-stop shop: castings plus in-house machining, heat treatment (including Austempered Ductile Iron grades 1-5), and painting services (E-Coat, Powder Coat, Wet Dip). Pricing is quote-based, with typical order sizes of 300 pieces (range: under 50 to over 5,000), lead times of 5 days or less for finished castings, 21 days or less for machined castings, and 98.7% on-time delivery. Distribution is exclusively direct to enterprise OEMs across five verticals: agriculture equipment, heavy truck, industrial equipment, construction, and power utility. Named customers include Kinze Manufacturing, John Deere, Kuhn Krause, McNeilus, Toro, and Summers Manufacturing.

The company has 51-100 employees, produces 1,500 different castings for over 150 customers, and holds multiple AFS Casting of the Year / Design Awards (2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017), a 2020 AFS Plant Engineering Award, and ISO 9001:2015 certification since 1996. Casting conversion — replacing multi-piece steel weldments with single castings — is the core value proposition, with documented customer cost savings of 10-48% (Kinze, John Deere, Krause, McNeilus case studies).

Name

Dotson Iron Castings

Legal name

MPS Mankato, LLC

Website

https://dotson.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1876

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

MPS Mankato (formerly Dotson Iron Castings) is a ductile iron jobbing foundry producing 2-50 lb castings with in-house machining, heat treatment, and painting. It serves enterprise OEMs across agriculture, heavy truck, industrial, construction, and power utility markets via direct, quote-based sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Mankato

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Ductile Iron Castings: MPS Mankato produces ductile iron castings for various manufacturing markets including agriculture equipment, heavy truck, industrial equipment, construction, and power utility industries. Revenue is generated through the production and sale of custom ductile iron castings with typical production quantities ranging from 250 pieces to thousands.
2. Machined Castings: In-house machining services for castings, offering mills and lathes for precision machining of their own castings. Lead times are 21 days or less for machined castings.
3. Value Added Services: Coordination and provision of heat treatment, painting (E-Coat, Powder Coat, Wet Dip Painting), and finishing services. These are offered as integrated services alongside casting production.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Dotson Iron Castings (operating as MPS Mankato) is a jobbing ductile iron foundry that produces custom 2 to 50 pound ductile iron castings at 120 tons per day using green sand molding on automated horizontal molding machines. The company operates a vertically integrated one-stop shop pairing casting production with in-house machining, austempering heat treatment, and E-Coat/Powder Coat/Wet Dip painting, supported by in-house Magmasoft-based casting design and conversion engineering services.

Product overview

MPS Mankato (formerly Dotson Iron Castings) operates as a ductile iron foundry offering a vertically integrated one-stop shop for castings, machining, heat treatment, and painting. The core product is ductile iron castings (grades D60-D100, plus Austempered Ductile Iron), supplemented by in-house machining, heat treatment, and painting services. Engineering services include casting design, solidification modeling (Magmasoft), and casting conversion from weldments. The company serves agriculture equipment, heavy truck, industrial equipment, construction, and power utility markets with 1,500 different castings for over 150 customers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ductile Iron Castings Custom ductile iron castings in grades D60, D65, D80, and D100 (as cast) produced at 120 tons daily using green sand molding on 20x24 horizontal machines; finished castings range from 2 to 50 pounds with typical production runs from 250 to thousands of pieces. Sold primarily to OEMs in agriculture, heavy truck, industrial equipment, construction, and power utility markets.
• Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) Specialized heat-treated ductile iron offering grades 1 through 5 with an engineered Ausferrite matrix of ferrite and carbon-rich austenite, providing high fatigue strength, high impact strength, and wear resistance up to 300 Brinell hardness.
• Machining In-house CNC machining using high-quality mills and lathes located in the production flow, machining castings in-line from the finishing department with lead times of 21 days or less; serves customers needing finished-to-print machined castings.
• Heat Treatment (Austempering) Austempering and other heat treatment services applied to ductile iron castings to achieve specified mechanical properties, including up to 300 Brinell hardness for ADI, and wear resistance for demanding applications.
• Casting Painting (E-Coat, Powder Coat & Wet Dip) Value-added painting services for castings, including E-Coat, Powder Coat, and Wet Dip Painting, applied for corrosion protection and finished appearance as part of the integrated production flow.
• Casting Design Services In-house engineering service using Magmasoft solidification modeling, CAD file import, SolidWorks 3D modeling, and reverse engineering to validate casting soundness and optimize designs before tooling, with specialized expertise in converting weldments to castings.
• Casting Conversions Specialty service that converts fabrications and steel weldments into single-piece iron castings, working with customers to drive piece-price reductions and assembly time savings; validated case studies show 10% to 48% cost reductions.

Quantifiable outcome

• 98.7% on-time delivery rate
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers7 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

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• MacLean Power SystemsflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 May 2023MacLean Power Systems acquired Dotson Iron Castings on May 19, 2023. MPS is a leading manufacturer of engineered products for transmission, distribution, substation, and communication infrastructure. Steve Scharnhorst is CEO of MPS. Tyson Twait continued leading Dotson as VP and GM, later succeeded by Steve Volkman as VP and GM in May 2024.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Eagle Alloy: Michigan-based iron and steel jobbing foundry producing ductile and gray iron castings for industrial and agricultural customers. Directly comparable size, geography (Midwest), and jobbing foundry model to Dotson.
• Benton Foundry: Pennsylvania-based iron foundry specializing in ductile and gray iron castings for industrial, commercial, and infrastructure markets. Comparable mid-sized US iron foundry with engineering and machining capabilities.
• Cast-Fab Technologies: Ohio-based integrated iron and steel casting plus machining provider serving industrial, energy, and heavy equipment OEMs. Comparable vertically integrated casting-to-machining value proposition.
• MetalTek International: Sand, investment, and centrifugal metal casting producer offering ferrous and nonferrous castings to industrial OEMs. Comparable as a mid-sized US metalcaster with integrated machining and engineering services similar to Dotson's value-add model.
• Neenah Enterprises (Neenah Foundry): Iron casting producer serving municipal, construction, and industrial markets with a long US history. Comparable as an established domestic iron foundry serving infrastructure-adjacent and industrial OEM customers.
• Ajax Manufacturing: Pennsylvania-based iron foundry producing ductile and gray iron castings for mining, railroad, construction, and industrial markets. Comparable mid-sized US iron jobbing foundry with similar weight-class focus and customer mix.
• Waupaca Foundry: One of the largest iron foundries in the US, producing ductile iron, gray iron, and compacted graphite iron castings for automotive, heavy truck, agriculture, and industrial markets. Directly comparable to Dotson in product, process (green sand, automated pouring), and customer base.
• Fairmount Foundry: Pennsylvania-based ductile iron jobbing foundry serving industrial, agricultural, and heavy equipment customers. Comparable ductile iron focus, weight range, and jobbing/short-run production model to Dotson.
• Grede Holdings: US-based producer of iron and steel castings serving commercial vehicle, industrial, and agricultural markets. Closely comparable business model and end-market exposure to Dotson's heavy truck and industrial segments.
• Harrison Steel Castings Company: US steel and iron foundry producing large cast components for mining, construction, and heavy industrial markets. Comparable as a domestic ferrous jobbing foundry with engineering services and pattern-making capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/DotsonIronCastings
• Xx.com/DotsonIron

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

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 Dotson Iron Castings