Charlotte Pipe and Foundry opens new melt shop

The Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Co. held a grand opening in late October for its new $460 million iron foundry in Oakboro, North Carolina.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based maker of cast iron and plastic pipes and fittings for plumbing applications says the new facility on 700 acres in Stanly County replaces one about 35 miles west that operated for more than 100 years.

The company melts more than 150,000 tons of scrap iron and steel annually.

Charlotte Pipe also has invested $58 million in the Oakboro plant’s environmental systems and controls, including an on-site 70,000-megawatt substation that produces enough electricity to power 70,000 single-family homes.

“Charlotte Pipe has always been committed to investments that will benefit our associates, our customers and our shareholders,” says Roddey Dowd Jr., vice chair of the company’s board of directors. “While our Uptown Charlotte location has provided stakeholders with a solid platform to deliver outstanding results, our new Oakboro foundry will allow a more efficient layout of our plant and equipment and give us the flexibility to expand to meet future needs.”

Founded in 1901, Charlotte Pipe has seven plant locations in the United States that make products distributed globally. The company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Neenah Enterprises Inc., makes recycled-content municipal castings and operates three plants in the U.S.

Since its founding, privately held Charlotte Pipe says it has invested heavily in capital equipment, environmental control technology infrastructure and its people to operate an efficient, modern and safe foundry.

In 2019, the company’s board of directors opted to replace the existing Charlotte plant. With the new foundry in Oakboro described by Charlotte Pipe as one of the largest and most modern foundries in the world, the company says that decision ensures that Charlotte Pipe will remain deeply rooted in the Charlotte region and continuously operated in North Carolina.

“A generational project, the relocation and expansion of our legacy foundry is a strategic move by Charlotte Pipe to improve its processes and offerings in ways that will allow the company to continue serving the plumbing industry and our community for the next 100 years," Charlotte Pipe CEO Hooper Hardison says.

Charlotte Pipe also has added a rail spur to connect the new plant to the Aberdeen Carolina & Western Railway, a short-line railroad that crosses central North Carolina. The Aberdeen line connects to the Norfolk Southern Railway, giving the Oakboro foundry rail access to bring in ferrous scrap from the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest.

The move also has presented Charlotte Pipe with the opportunity to market real estate in Charlotte’s Uptown neighborhood. Late last year, the manufacturing firm engaged Dallas-based real estate services and investment company CBRE to market its 55-acre parcel of land, likely after a sizable industrial dismantling and demolition project takes place.