Awarded to a URC teammate who routinely goes above and beyond to serve and love our customers.

Shannon was hired in March of 2000, and at every URC position he has put the customer first. Shannon is currently the Director of Logistics , and he formally works with customer service and production to schedule the orders to insure we meet or exceed the expectations of every customer. Regarding above and beyond service, Shannon has been known to personally drive critical components to job sites…along with driving employees back and forth to work to make sure our labor force meets customer’s demands.

Thank you SHANNON FOR YOUR GREAT WORK…you are a key component of 4U SERVICE!!

… customized to fit every customer’s needs.

Jim Caprio¹, Matt Ciarrocca¹, Brian Rhoads¹

¹United Refractories Co., McMurray, PA, USA

Keywords: Iron, Steel, Refractory, Reheat Furnace, Rolling Mill

Continue reading “TECHNICAL REFRACTORY CHALLENGES TO CONSIDER IN STEEL REHEAT FURNACES” →

It is my pleasure to welcome John Gallo to URC! Effective 5/1, John will begin his transition to VP of Non-Ferrous Metal Markets, as Tom Robich intends to retire 12/31/20.

Continue reading “Welcome John Gallo” →

Dear Customers,

URC remains open!

Over the last few days both the states of Ohio and Indiana have issued stay at home directives. These directives require employees of non-essential businesses to stay home for an initial period of two weeks.

In Indiana and Ohio, essential businesses and operations include the manufacture, distribution and supply chain of critical products and industries. Some of these critical products and industries include agriculture, waste disposal, transportation, steel products, fuel, mining, construction and defense.

These essential businesses are not affected by the stay at home directives. Since URC is in the critical supply chain of these essential businesses, URC is considered an essential business and part of the critical manufacturing infrastructure.

Throughout the coronavirus precautions, URC continues to take steps to help maintain a safe and healthy workplace, in addition to maintaining federal, state, and local guidance and directives.

If you have any questions or special needs, please contact Donna, Kathleen or your URC rep. Thank you for your trust and patience…We will be in touch with future updates.

Jim Caprio
V.P. Sales & Marketing

We are pleased to welcome Robert Piestrzynski into our URC Family!

Rob earned his BS in Product Design Engineering from Ferris State University in 2001.  Shortly after graduation, Rob broke into the Portland Cement Industry as a Tech Services Engineer with St. Mary’s Cement.  With assignments in Detroit and Chicago, Rob worked closely with QC and production on product lines, raw material selection and production processes.

In 2014, Rob made the transition to sales as an account manager for Magotteaux’s Cement division.  At Magotteaux, Rob leveraged his cement process experience to value sell proprietary alloy castings within the cement production process.  Rob successfully called on and managed cement plants in over 10 states in the west and south.     

Living in Nashville with his wife and three children, Rob will have direct sales responsibility for approximately 20 accounts in the U.S.  In addition, he will act as our Cement Champion to develop our value added cement strategy and work with other cement salesmen to understand the needs of the cement customer and deliver top quality 4U Service.

Join us in welcoming Rob to the URC Family!

We are pleased to welcome Brian back into the URC Family!  With a ceramic engineering degree from Penn State and 36 years experience in the industry, Brian rejoins United after working at both our Sharonville, Ohio and Brookville, Indiana plants from 2002 to 2016 in a number of management capacities. Starting today, Brian will be our Director of International Licenses.

As International Licenses Director, Brian will use his vast refractory knowledge base to communicate, teach and collaborate with both current and prospective URC Licensees around the world.

Please join us in welcoming Brian back to URC!

With a ceramic engineering degree from Missouri S&T and over 20 years of refractory experience at Vesuvius, Plibrico LLC and Holland Mfg., Justin has an extensive knowledge of the industry.

In particular, Justin has monolithic experience ranging from low moisture technologies to plastics to precast… all key product areas that are critical for URC to deliver 4USERVICE to its customers.

Relative to our customers, Justin’s experience lines up well with our customer base, as he has developed and pioneered products for the aluminum, iron, steel, incineration, cement and HPI Industries.

Aside from a vast product development resume and multiple patents, Justin also has extensive experience in raw material sourcing and QA disciplines… key areas that bridge the gap between good research ideas and robust products that cost effectively perform for end users.

URC’s main objective is to continue to improve our 4USERVICE and provide increasing levels of value to our customers. We believe Justin will be a great leader and teammate to make this happen!

To provide more focus, support and 4U Service for customers in the foundry segment, we have made the following alignment improvements in our sales team.

Brent Buchcuski Director URC FOUNDRY Market

Entering his sixth year at URC, Brent brings nine years of supervisory experience at all levels of the foundry, including the job as foundry and melt area manager.  Brent will continue to work with Rick and Pat in the Midwest, along with working with all other URC salesman on foundry market details. These details range from collaborating on key account strategies to joint calls to input on product development needs for the foundry application. Brent will be accountable for maintaining and growing our sales to direct foundry accounts and foundry distributors.

Ron Stewart Foundry Sales/Service Rep

URC is pleased to welcome Ron Stewart to the team!  Ron will be coming on board at the end of July in the role of Foundry Sales/Service Representative.  Ron will be a great compliment to our foundry group, which is an industry leading source for products, knowledge and support.

Ron has been at Cadillac Castings for 30+ years and has held various management positions including foundry, finishing, and melting.  For the last 17 years, Ron has held the position of Melt Superintendent.  In this role he was responsible for all aspects of the melting operation including the cupola, channels, repairs, and auto-pouring.  He has been an active member of AFS and has done several presentations at Cast Expo and Casting Congress.  Currently, he is the Chairman of the 8F Cupola Committee.

We are excited to add Ron’s experience and knowledge to our team, as his background and people skills will improve our ability to add real 4U Service Value to numerous accounts and distributors.  Ron will report to Brent and be based out of Kalamazoo, MI.

URC is exhibiting at Booth 420 on April 25-27^th in Milwaukee, WI their latest industry leading refractory products designed for Aluminum, Iron and Steel along with their PriorityU Technical Services and 1Source turn-key product and project offerings.  Sales and Technical staff will be hand to discuss and help provide information on how URC can add value to their customer’s operation!

URC is excited to announce that Mike Rzepczynski has joined URC! Mike, who was formerly at Harbison-Walker, has been in the refractories industry for 31 years and brings a great deal of refractory knowledge to the team.  He will focus on the aluminum market, but also cover other industrial applications in his Midwest geographic area out of his home base in St. Louis, MO.

“Tom brings a great deal of experience to the United team, as he has an excellent combination of sales, management and technical skills” Jim Caprio VP sales and marketing

Tom Robich has over 36 years of experience in the refractories industry with Harbison-Walker Refractories Co. Throughout this 36 year career at HW, Tom held various territory sales positions, starting in Houston, Texas and progressing to a larger maintenance territory in Dallas, Texas. After 6 years in Texas, Tom moved into a new application-focused glass sales assignment in Toledo, Ohio for 4.5 years and then progressed to project sales in Pittsburgh, Pa., handling all new furnace construction activity in the US and Canada for the next 2 years. Tom’s career path continued into technical marketing as he assumed the position of Marketing/Application Manager for Non-Ferrous Metals for the next 5 years. After this assignment, Tom moved to Indianapolis, Indiana as the Regional Sales Manager for the next 3.5 years. Tom was then called back to Pittsburgh, Pa. as Senior Director-Industrial Metals Sales Unit and held this position for 15 years.

“Tom’s professionalism and customer focused approach fits perfectly with our 4U customer service, as he will help us improve and get to the next level of customer solutions and service.”….Doug Niesen CEO

In addition to many years of strategic planning, account development and sales process design experience , Tom holds a BA in Economics & Administrative Management Science from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MBA in General Management from Bowling Green State University.

This presentation is an overview of the basics regarding form design and refractory composition, selection and properties, including the importance of refractory conditioning and proper introduction of the metal.

The American Foundry Society (AFS) will be hosting the International Ferrous Melt Conference in Nashville, TN  USA.  At this conference, experts from around the world will be presenting on various iron and steel topics ranging from alloy and treatment ladle optimization to refractories.

URC’s Johnathan Nguyen will be presenting a paper entitled “Channel Furnace Refractory Maintenance” during Session 5 on Friday, October 9^th at 10AM. 

http://www.afsinc.org/news/event.cfm?EventID=40131  

UNITECR – September 15-18, 2015 – Vienna, Austria

The Unified International Technical Conference (UNITECR) has become the most important international conference for the presentation and sharing of technical ideas and findings in the refractory world. UNITECR brings together the refractory industry, raw material suppliers, consumers, and scientists.

This year at UNITECR, United Refractories will be hosting a presentation session over the advantages of refractories with cement free bonding systems. The presentation is based on the technical paper, “Gel Bonded Cement Free Shotcrete” written by Richard Volk, Johnathan Nguyen, and James Caprio.

This year, UNITECR is being held in Vienna, Austria from September 15^th through the 18^th. Johnathan Nguyen will be presenting for United Refractories. This session, covering cement free shotcretes, will be held in the “Monolithics IV” lecture, September 17^th from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

http://www.unitecr2015.org/

United Refractories Co. will be exhibiting this year at the GIFA Expo in Düsseldorf, Germany, from June 16th through June 20th, 2015.

As the world's largest and most comprehensive foundry technology focused trade show, GIFA provides a fantastic opportunity for URC to not only connect with its existing global network, but reach out to new potential international refractory manufacturing and distribution partners.

From an industry standpoint, URC will focus on Metal Casting for both Ferrous (Steel & Iron) and Non-Ferrous (Copper & Aluminum) applications at GIFA.

URC will be featuring its market leading UNI-RAM VR Coreless dry-vibratable technology, the UNI-SHOT/PUMP RF CF “Gel Bonded” no cement series and its FOUNDRY SOLUTIONS approach for steel and iron applications.

Find United Refractories Co. at GIFA in Hall 10, Stand D77!

Click here for more information on GIFA.
Click here for more information on URC industrial capabilities.

Just in case you missed it, on Monday, October 6th United Refractories Co. was showcased on Manufacturing Marvels, a 2 minute production that spotlights American manufacturers and their unique products, competencies and facilities! You may now watch the segment here!

The development of our new Brookville, Indiana facility coupled with our continued focus on quality, customer service and product development are just a few of the reasons that United Refractories Co. was highlighted by the producers at Manufacturing Marvels.

Contact a URC sales representative today to learn more about our 4U Service methodology.

We introduced our dynamic "4U Service" positioning at the CASTEXPO and Metalcasting Congress in 2013–four points of difference anchored in quality, response, product and trust that further distinguish URC from its competitors.

 

It is with great sadness we announce the passing of our company’s founder, Raymond J. Niesen, on Saturday, April 6^th, 2013. 

All who knew him — as a loving husband, father and grandfather… as a trustworthy friend or stalwart brother-in-arms… as an earnest and honest businessman… and as one of the guys who “done good” from Pittsburgh’s North side — know that today the world is a little more dull, a little less smart, and a lot less colorful without Ray in it.

If a life well-lived is indeed its own monument, then what Ray leaves behind in family, friends and in our company will stand tall and true for generations to come.

To learn a little more about Ray, visit his biography page.

To visit Ray’s memorial page and for service information, click here.

Building on it's reputation for quality, technology and service, URC is moving its UNI-REF INC. plant to a new, much larger and modern facility. Read more.

Come visit us at CastExpo in Booth #2095 April 6-9, 2013!

Richard J. Volk receives 2012 Theodore J. Planje – St. Louis Refractories Award. This award was established “for the purpose of recognizing and honoring distinguished achievement in the refractories field.” Rick will receive this honor at the American Ceramic Society 48th Annual Symposium held at the Hilton St. Louis Airport Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. CONGRATULATIONS RICK!

China Foundry Expo – China Metal: China International Exhibition Center, May 9th – 12th

Fundi-Expo 2012, Monterrey, NL, Mexico Convention Center, April 23rd – 27th

AFS Metal Casting Congress & Expo, Columbus Ohio Convention Center, April 17th – 20th

United Refractories Co. launches new web platform: Our new site amplifies and simplifies customer and employee access to product-related materials, plus makes it easier for prospects to connect directly with staff.