May 2022 Volume 4

INDUSTRY NEWS

FIA Member Spotlight: We Would Like to Introduce You to Rex Forge

But things have changed. A group of operationally-focused equity investors, led by Carlin Capital Partners, acquired the company in 2015 and set out on a multi-year plan to rehabilitate and remake Rex Forge into a professionally managed, customer-centric forging supplier with reliable infrastructure and modern capabilities. Rex Forge underwent an extensive and expansive equipment modernization and refurbishment program and, at the same time, recruited both highly experienced and technically proficient leaders Despite several unanticipated challenges along the way, including of course a global pandemic, Rex Forge now finds itself in a position of strength and of confidence. Over six years later and having spent many millions of dollars along the way, the company has 9 fully operational and production-ready forging presses operated by a highly experienced production staff and managed by a new, energetic and very capable management team led by President & CEO, John Deliso. The company has several significant projects upcoming in the areas of automation and quality management as well as an ERP system upgrade. Lastly, Rex Forge is more financially stable than it has been in decades. Rex Forge Tomorrow in all functional areas. Rex Forge Today

The Basics Rex Forge is a New England-based supplier of closed die steel forgings to customers primarily within the truck and off highway segments of the automotive industry. The company operates out of a 200,000sf facility on 15 acres in Plantsville, Connecticut, with 9 mechanical forging presses ranging from 1,600 to 4,000 tons. In addition, Rex Forge has a dedicated onsite tool and die shop with welding, CNC and EDM equipment providing for in-house tool and die capabilities. The company typically processes around 100 million pounds of steel annually for its customers, with finished part weights ranging from 8oz to 28lbs, and has averaged around 100 employees for the past several years. The History Rex Forge was founded in 1867 (yes…just after the Civil War) as the Atwater Manufacturing Company, initially forging products such as armaments and oxen shoes using hammers driven by pulleys and belts powered by the adjacent Quinnipiac River. The company evolved over time, beginning to focus on automotive components

in the early 1900s as one of the earliest suppliers of forgings to the Ford Motor Company. While transforming its business from hammers to using mechanical forging presses during the 1980s, it maintained its strong presence in the automotive industry while branching out into other industries such as fluid control and firearms. Recent History For the vast majority of its lengthy existence, Rex Forge has been owner-operated and relatively unstructured and informal in its approach to business. Over the past several decades in particular, the company admittedly suffered from substantial underinvestment in equipment and a lack of technological innovation and operational best practices. Accordingly, its customers became accustomed to inconsistent quality and delivery. To be brutally honest, Rex Forge was a supplier that you worked with because you had to, not because you wanted to.

In today’s turbulent economic climate, OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers are being faced with inflationary pressures, less reliable and often less cost-competitive offshore supply chains and, lastly, shrinking domestic forging capacity. As a result, many are re assessing their forging supply chain in order to address these challenges and mitigate these risks. If you are one of those companies, please recognize that after many years focused exclusively on building a rock-solid operational and organizational foundation for growth, Rex Forge now finds itself looking for the right long-term partners to whom it can devote its expanded production capacity. 2022 and beyond will no doubt not be easy but Rex Forge looks forward to working on the challenge with you.

FIA MAGAZINE | MAY 2022 68