About Twin City Die Castings, Inc.

History
Management Team
Locations

History:

Twin City Die Castings is one of North America's oldest die casting companies. TCDC was founded by Charlie Adams, a pioneer in the die casting industry on November 7, 1919.

The Adams family owned Twin City Die Castings until 1974, when a family friend, James Harmon, purchased the company. Ownership of Twin City passed from Jim to his three son's Steve, Doug, and Mark in 1979. The company grew as a industry leader in the 1980's and 90's under Steve's leadership as CEO, Doug as CFO and Mark as Vice President. Included in this growth were new faculties in Watertown, South Dakota in 1989, and Monticello, Minnesota in 2000.

In 2005, Doug Harmon became CEO and sole shareholder of the company. Doug's active management of the company continues to this day.

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Management Team:

Integral to the management of TCDC is the Senior Management Staff comprised of the CEO and three Vice Presidents. Through weekly meetings, they work to guide TCDC tactically and strategically. Together the Senior Management group has more than 130 years of experience in the die casting industry.

Doug Harmon - CEO

Doug Harmon joined the company in 1977 and spent the majority of his career in the administration and finance areas. For over 20 years, Doug served as CFO until assuming the CEO position in 2005. Doug is on the Board of Governors for North American Die Casting Association (NADCA).

Tom Heider - Vice President of Engineering

Tom Heider started at TCDC in 1971 and has worked in the production and engineering departments of Twin City Die Castings. Tom was promoted to Chief Engineer in 1980 and has provided leadership to the engineering department ever since. Tom's well respected industry knowledge has placed him in charge of NADCA's product standards committee and as a board member of USCAR.

Al Pfingsten - Vice president of Operations

Al Pfingsten joined TCDC in 1969 and has held positions in production, quality, engineering and general management. Al was an integral part of the early success of the Watertown plant and served as its General Manager until assuming operational responsibility for all three locations in 2005.

Greg Hansen - Vice President of Sales

Part of the TCDC family since 1977, Greg is a third generation employee. Greg has held many positions at the company, including roles in shipping, subcontract, plant management, and general management. Greg was the General Manager of the Monticello plant in their early years and oversaw TCDC expansion into magnesium. Greg has been Vice President of Corporate Sales and Marketing since 2005. Greg currently serves on the NADCA Marketing Committee.

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Locations

Minneapolis Facility
1070 SE 33rd Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55414

The Minneapolis facility stands in the location where TCDC was founded in 1919. The location has endured multiple expansions to it's current 74,000 sq feet. This location houses the corporate headquarters with sales, engineering, finance, and administrative functions. It is also home to aluminum die casting and machining. While the long history of this location is noteworthy, the most impressive aspect of this plant is the modern manufacturing techniques employed.

In the cast department, robots load inserts into casting dies and the processes employed are so capable that 18 cavity cast and trim dies run fully automatic and unmanned. Nine die cast machines ranging in size from 600 to 950 tons from Buhler and HPM are all automated and employ peripheral equipment from Regoplas, ABB, Reis, Achenson, and Rimrock.

The machining department has dozens of machining centers from Mori Seiki, Okuma, Brothers, and Matsuura. Automation has also found a place in the machining department, with robots loading horizontal and vertical machining centers as well as lathes. A Delvig optical tool presetter aligns cutting tools to pin point accuracy.

The quality department employ two Zeiss CMM's, a spectrometer, and real time X-ray, along with dedicated electronic gauging with SPC capabilities.

Watertown Facility
122 Cessna Street NW
Watertown, SD 57201

The Watertown South Dakota facility is located approximately 200 miles west of Minneapolis. The plant encompasses 65,000 feet of aluminum die casting, machining, and office space. Home to 8 die casting machines along with vertical and horizontal machining centers and lathes.

The Watertown plant utilizes automation in both the die casting and machining processes. You will see extensive use of robots, undertaking tasks from extracting parts cast machines and loading trim presses, to loading and unloading machining centers and performing quality checks. The Watertown location employs an impressive automated machining line including 7 twin spindle Okuma lathes, dedicated drilling and tapping operations, and quality checks including pressure testing and use of vision systems. This flexible line currently supplies 2 million parts per year for use in the automotive industry. Watertown's customers include industry leaders in automotive, class “A” semi, high technology, medical device, and industrial process control.

Monticello Facility
520 Chelsea Road
Monticello, MN 55362

Built in 2000, the Monticello plant is one of the most modern magnesium die casting plants in the world. It's 5 Buhler cast machines and 8 CNC centers produce parts for the medical, automotive, hand tool, recreational vehicle, and heavy truck industries. Many of the products produced here require high quality, cosmetic finishes.

Like our customers, Twin City Die Castings values quality and searches the world to find the best equipment available. Inside these walls, Buhler die cast machines from Switzerland, Reis trim presses from Germany, Rauch furnaces from Austria, and Mori Seiki machining centers from Japan help manufacture precision parts for our customers.

Like all Twin City Die Casting plants, the Monticello plant utilizes automation in many aspects of manufacturing. All its die casting cells include ABB robots.

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