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Griffin Wheel Co. recently completed $20 million worth of upgrades to its Kansas City, Kan., manufacturing facility to increase cast-steel wheel production capacity and improve product quality.

The company upgraded the melt shop; installed new emission control equipment, a new ladle exchange system and new heat treat furnaces; and added molding conveyor lines, a hot wheel grinder and an inspection line.

“The result will be a significant increase in the number of additional wheels that we will be able to produce at our Kansas City facility on a consistent basis,” said Griffin Wheel President Mark Shirley in a prepared statement.

During the past five years, the company has completed multi-million-dollar production improvements at all its North American plants.

“This assures our customers that Griffin Wheel will have the capacity to keep up with the increasing demand for railroad wheels during what appears to be a prolonged period of growth for the industry,” said Shirley.

Griffin Wheel is a division of Amsted Rail, which also owns Brenco Inc. and ASF-Keystone Inc.