North Vernon Industry Corporation (NVIC), now solely owned by Toyota Industries Corp, plans soon to reopen a Cullman plant, says Jack Bodi, NVIC vice president.

NVIC manufactures counterweights for forklifts and off-road vehicles in North Vernon, Indiana, and, from early 2006 to late 2008, operated a division in a 100,000-sqft (45,000-sqm) factory it owns in Cullman.

"We mothballed the plant anticipating a return" to production, Bodi says. That may occur by the end of November, initially with about 60 workers.

For continuity, NVIC used some idle Cullman workers for production work in North Vernon through to August 2009. The sites are nearly 400 miles (640 km) apart.

Business is improving now. "We actually started the year [2010] higher than in 2009 but not tremendously," Bodi says. "Month by month, we have seen the market return. In August, we saw a huge spike, and now that huge spike is continuing through end of year."

The Cullman plant has a permit for annual production of 90,000 metric tons but, in a practical sense, "the real tonnage is 70,000," he says.

NVIC owns two North Vernon plants that employ 311 people. One plant occupies 70,000 sqft (6,300 sqm) and has a permit for annual production of 52,000 metric tons. The other occupies 105,000 sqft (9,450 sqm) and has a permit for annual production of 75,000 metric tons.

In January, Toyota Industries, of Kariya, Japan, acquired the NVIC portion owned by its longtime partner, family-owned Ota Heavy Industry Co Ltd, of Hekinan, Japan. Terms were not disclosed, but counterweight customers were informed.

Toyota and Ota began discussions in 1994 about establishing a counterweight manufacturing facility in the US to complement their corresponding capability in Japan. The partners reached an agreement and began operating NVIC in 1996 as an independently operated gray iron foundry. NVIC shipped its first counterweight in March 1998 and, in 2004, identified itself as North America's leading forklift counterweight manufacturer.

In all three factories, NVIC's automated vacuum-moulding process is "unique technology for manufacturing moulds", Bodi says. "We use vacuum pressure to hold the sand in the shape of the mould. No resins or binders are used. After the casting is poured, we release the vacuum. The sand falls away, is recirculated and used again. It is a clean process without negative environmental aspects."

Two other North American facilities make large castings using a semi-automated vacuum-moulding process.