Seattle Based Manufacturer, SeaCast, Inc. Picks Butte, Montana for Expansion

At a meeting yesterday at Montana Tech, brothers Mike and Bert Robins announced their intentions to move forward with construction and operation of a manufacturing plant in Butte.

In the form of a Memorandum of Understanding, SeaCast, Inc. http://www.seacast.com/ , the government of Butte-Silver Bow, the Butte Local Development Corporation (BLDC) http://www.buttemontana.org/ and the State of Montana’s Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity http://bizmt.com/ , agreed to proceed with the establishment, siting, and operation of a manufacturing facility to be located within the Butte-Silver Bow Tax Increment Finance Industrial District (TIFID). The TIFID is located south of Butte and is currently home to Advanced Silicon Materials Inc. (ASiMI).

The proposed manfacturing facility will employ approximately 30 individuals and help in the strengthening of the economy of Butte-Silver Bow and southwest Montana. “Today marks the beginning of this process, and it is our intention to have it up and running in 2006,” said Mike Robins.

The Robins family has strong ties to Butte that have helped in their decision to proceed with their expansion in Butte. This coupled with strong business reasoning has made Butte the perfect place to expand SeaCast’s operations. “Butte’s ‘open for business’ attitude, and the support from the local development leaders (BSB Economic Development Director Bill Penn, BLDC Director Jim Smitham, and BSB Assistant Planning Director Russ Connole), along with Chief Executive Paul Babb and Governor Brian Schwietzer made this the right time to do the deal,” commented Mike Robins. “We are proud to be from Butte and to have the ability to give back to our community, but it is important that people know that we take this expansion very seriously. We have done our homework, and we wouldn’t be proceeding with this project unless we felt the expansion was viable, sustainable, and based on sound business principles,” stated Bert Robins.

SeaCast, Inc. http://www.seacast.com/ , founded in 1985, is a world-class manufacturer of precision investment castings. It is an outgrowth of a family business, Butte Hardsurfacing Company, founded by their father, Charles “Red” Robins in the late 1940s. SeaCast serves a wide variety of industries including, aerospace, biomedical, food processing, petrochemical, automotive/trucking, lumber, industrial pump, turbo compressor, mining, and sporting goods. Metals cast include alloy steel, stainless steels, and aluminum, copper, and cobalt base alloys.

Contact Information –Ron Ueland – 406-223-7338
SeaCast Representative

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SeaCast coming to Butte

Butte-raised owners like city’s ‘open-for-business’ attitude
By Erin Nicholes of The Montana Standard – 08/17/2005

A Seattle-based company that makes specialized machine parts is planning a new manufacturing plant in Butte, officials said Tuesday.

SeaCast, Inc. intends to build a plant in the Silicon Mountain Industrial Park just west of here in 2006, spokesman Ron Ueland said.

"The economic conditions are just right for us to locate a manufacturing facility here," he said. "The stars lined up." SeaCast’s owners — Butte-raised brothers Mike and Bert Robins — have signed papers declaring their intent to expand their company into Butte, but a few details remain before the new plant is absolute.

If all goes as planned, SeaCast will provide at least 30 local jobs for welders, engineers and others; it currently has 200 workers in Rhode Island and Washington state.

Full Story: http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2005/08/17/newsbutte_top/newsbutte_top.txt