What's new
What's new

Death of a Proud Manufacturing Facility

Rick Rowlands

Titanium
Joined
Jan 8, 2005
Location
Youngstown, Ohio
I just got back from Buffalo, NY helping my landlord dismantle his latest acquisition, a GA Gray 6" planer type horizontal boring mill. The mill is in the former Niagara Machine and Tool Works plant, later known as Clearing Niagara. Niagara built stamping presses, press brakes and other similar types of equipment. For over 100 years this company built many of the machines that stamped out the sheet metal parts that were to become automobiles, appliances and countless other items.

There was an auction about 3 years ago however a sizable amount of equipment did not sell and remains in the plant. We paid a visit to the plant in February when it was decided to buy the boring mill and I took almost a hundred photos that first visit. I've posted them to my webshots album.

Click here for Clearing Niagara Album

We expect to be back up there later this week to start loading trucks. Its fascinating to be in a plant such as this and to think of the qctivity that once went on there. Its also unnerving to think that about half of the large machines are now in China hard at work making parts as you read this!

BTW the big Carlton radial drill press in the fifth photo is still for sale and there is a good possibility it will be scrapped if nobody saves it. It has an 8 foot arm and 22" column and sits on a T slot table which is probably 20' square. At some point Niagara added an 8" extension under the column so now you could probably drill a hole eight feet off the ground. Its a beauty, fully operational and in excellent condition. As you might be able to tell I am enamoured with this drill and wish I had the money to save her. Even though it would go really cheap I've sunk all my money into the foundry and there isn't any left for more old iron saves.

So take a look at the pictures and lament the death of the Niagara Machine and Tool Works, one of the thousands of such places in the US that have folded in recent years.

At least the Gray boring mill will go to a good home.
 
Quite a table on that Carlton...I presume it comes apart in sections narrow enough to truck ?? Is the drill column short enough to truck standing up on double drop trailer or would the whole deal have to be dissassembled...arm off the column ?
 
I was in a Case-IH plant in E. Moline, Illinois last summer. Sad and eerie at the same time...something I'll never forget.

It struck all too close to home because it was such a close copy of the plant where I currently work.
 
Rick,

I really enjoyed the pictures - it is a sad sight though. What is the floor?

I guess I'm naive, but what is the motivation for moving such an operation to China? Is it simply labor costs?

Cheers,
Bob Welland
 
heard the boom of many a niagra cycle at the case plant in bett.iowa(right across the mississippi from em plant, em plant was IH back then) in my younger days.
hired into bett. 3 day's after my 18th birthday.
thought i was set for life
it's a riverboat casino now.
can see the EM plant every day when i head down the hill to work.
small world matt
 
The Carlton comes completely apart. Arm comes off the column, column unbolts from the floor plates and floor plates comes up in umpteen sections.

Niagara didn't move the China but the big planer mills did. Its cheaper for the Chinese to buy up used equipment here and ship it over there than to build new ones from scratch.
 
I've been a witness to several plant closings, lost my last job to Mexico and China.
There's very little left in this area as far as manufacturing goes. There used to be plants here that employed 1000-1200 people and I've seen some guys retire with over 40 years with the same company. Doesn't happen much anymore, I would bet.
Great pictures, though.
Thanks,

Kevin
 
Rick, Thanks for the memories,I did some training at Niagara during the "70"s. At that time it was a thriving concern and you could never envision its demise. I even saw plans they had for a new factory. They built a lot of large machines back in those days and had a talented bunch of guys working there. I visited a few more times over the years and by the mid eighties it was clear things were not going well.The plant needed upgrading, to their credit they tried to stick with the old name USA machines but it was becoming hopeless. Once the family sold out it was just a matter of time. Another "American Success" story :( Martin
 
Being in the press, press brake repair business, I can tell you a bit about why they closed. First and foremost, lawsuits. The lawyers and courts decided that press manufactures have liability for evenr So someone today using a machine made in 1910 gets hurt on the press, you can sure the manufacturer. You as the machine owner are supposed to install the safety features and supervise the safe operation, you can even get hurt on the non press mfgs die and still sue the press mfg. It goes as far as even if when the press was made, certain safety devices didnt exist, the press mfg can get sued. We arent talking about poor or dangerous design issues, its the inherent danger of the machine. Only a few press mfgs still survive, and some are just shadows of what they were. Second issue is that they built the machines to good, they lasted too long. The technology hasnt really changed all that much and most machines can be rebuilt and updated to be as good as a new one. I spent alot of time in a big old empty plant like that, some places in them are scary, some are bright some are dark. The different areas all have unique odors you can almost tell where you are just by the scen
 
In 100 years, the history books will tell of how the greatest nation that ever was, the USA, fell to corporate greed, personal greed, lack of leadership, and it's unwillingness to control its borders. And how the Chinese were there to soak it all up.

The simple fact is that the US has far too soft of an underbelly to keep afloat. Its people have lost their toughness in favor of sports events, beer, and dancing. The party atmosphere that first arose during the late 60's has infected our country like a cancer.

Why work at Niagara Machine when you can make more money teaching 11 year old girls how to be cheerleaders? Why indeed. Maybe the answer is because working at Niagara Machine is what made our country great, and teaching girls cheerleading is what will make our country useless.
 
It's interesting that they built a bumpout in the shop wall to house the column of the Gray. A way to conserve the precious floor space under the overhead cranes, I suppose.

Think of the hundreds of man hours spent in digging & pouring those large machine foundations.

Mike
 
Didn't Shakespeare say "Kill all the Lawyers"?

One interesting thing about this machine is that ALL of the records regarding this machine still exist, including dozens of letters between Niagara and Gray on why the mill was 19 months late in delivery. Some of those records include correspondence and the invoice for a contractor to build that bumpout. I think it came to a little over $6,000. We even have the dates the railcars carrying the parts left Gray and when they arrived at Niagara.
 
I love old plants like that- I could have wandered around there for hours, as I am sure you did.

Its awful easy to blame it on the lawyers, and for sure they deserve some of it, but really, lawyers are just part of the small critters on the jungle floor- the real problem is evolve, or die.
And Niagara didnt evolve, and so it died.

I was in a very similar factory in Italy last year, which also made huge presses- but instead of being abandoned and ancient, it was up to date, and shipping over a billion dollars a year in product.
The company, SACMI, got started in the 1930's as a blacksmiths co-op, so they didnt have the history, investment, or reputation of Niagara, and yet, due to smarts and flexibility, they are thriving while Niagara is gone.
Check out these presses-
http://www.sacmi.com/Products.aspx?IdAzienda=1&IdDivisione=2&IdSottoDivisione=1&IdLinea=34
Their factory has lots of machines the same size as the monsters in your pics, but they are all new and cnc. The large machining room, about as big as the hall you show, had a half dozen huge cnc mills with tables as big as the radial drill you showed. Then we toured another building with 2 dozen Chiron VMC's and a dozen EDM's running 24/7.
They started out making fly presses, and in the 50's everything they made was mechanical- but they changed their product line constantly, responded to the changing markets, and now they make hydraulic presses that are all cnc, and quite handsome as well- they hire expensive industrial designers, and it shows. They make presses for the industries that have customers- which means that many of their machines make ceramic tiles, not metal stampings- something I am sure Niagara never thought of- but a huge market. They also make completely computerized cnc robotic cells that will injection mold clay slip into a toilet mold, pull the finished, green toilet out, and place it on an automatic tunnel kiln with robot glazing guns.
Another division makes most of the machines world wide that mold plastic lids for pop bottles.
In each case, they decided they were smart metalworkers, not "a press company" and so they followed the market, and used the skills of their workers to come up with a constant flow of new products that sold, and sold well.
One of their earliest products, in the company museum, was an apple washing and waxing machine- but the market proved too small, so they dropped that line, and went on.

The american mindset all too often seems to be, "we make it, whether you want it or not". So Niagara, which was innovative and vital in 1890, kept thinking the same way, in 1990. And it just dont work. Too many old executives who were more concerned with Cadillacs and Golf, instead of excited about making things.
There is a huge world out there, with lots of opportunites, but it isnt going to come to you and dump wheelbarrows full of money at your feet for trying to sell a 1950's design at 2010 prices.

Haas is a good example of a flexible american company that makes money, and exports TO china by being smart and quick. More of those old rust belt factories would still be open if more american bosses thought that way.
 
Ries,

Too bad I didn't record the conversation I just had a couple weeks ago. Wysong's HQ is in Greensboro and they recently reduced the company to just a skeleton of its former self. No manufacturing, just some support of existing equipment. Went over to see if I could get a number for one of their retirees to make some money teaching me handscraping. The head guy there told me that all the ones he knew had passed away. I mentioned China and we had an interesting discussion. He told me that Wysong had such a reputation that companies would pay a premium for their equipment and, while it was tougher, they could compete with the Chinese. The problem - every machine they ever made was a legal liability. Didn't matter what the standards of the time were or what safety equipment wasn't installed, or how stupid the worker - the lawyers got the jury to look at the big, rich company and the poor workin' man just trying to feed his family; and it killed any chance they had of staying profitable.

You used to be able to buy an airplane for what you would pay for a nice car. Now a light aircraft costs what you would pay for a nice house. Forget a *company*, the lawyers are 100% responsible for killing the entire low-end light aircraft *industry*. Never underestimate the damage the lawyers have done in this country.

Steve.
 
Don't forget the judges also. They on many times have the power to quash stupid cases before they ever make it to the jury.
 
I have heard of all the aurgerments of limablity and other things that help kill a company. But when you see to big name builders and see one slowly dies and one thrive one has to wonder what the difference really is? Both companies faced the same problems fought the same battles so what would be the difference?

In a nut shell I think it is leadership or lack of it. Companies that thrive have leaders with long term vision for their company. The are not slaves to wall street and short term profits, but rather long term profitablity.

I agree with the earlier statement about greed has kill more industry in this country, and that includes the greed of lawerys, the greed of wall street, the greed of shareholders and CEO's. It almost seems that most of the machine builders that have survived are privitely owned.

The company I am refering to is Minister Machine, and they are still shipping lots of press of all sizes from their plant in little Minister, Ohio.

It is shocking how few machine builders are left in this country. Take lathe builders, when I entered the work force in the late 80's there was around a dozen builders left, which was about a third of the number from the late 70's and a small percentage of the number of those building lathes in the 50's. Today I can think of only three company's still U.S. own and being CNC lathes in this country.

JOhn
 
"Don't forget the judges also. They on many times have the power to quash stupid cases before they ever make it to the jury. "

Which bring up one of the real flaws in the system, Judge Shopping.

Also there is the entire issue of tort reform. Try a Google on either and you will find out more than you wanted to know about how screwed up the system is.
 
Lawyers have take away the press business in this country period, sued them out of existence.
Bliss, a parts company the was bought and sold many times over, now sells parts for Niagara and Clearing.

Federal, Gone, tried to reinvent them selves, ran out of cash.

L&J gone, someone sells parts only

Perkins, mostly sells parts, changed hands a few years ago, also make small machines.

V&O, gone, parts still around, automatic notching presses being rebuild by a new company. The or dance part of the company was split from the press company at the final bankruptcy.

Minster, long time company, made a kind of crappy mechanical clutch OBI press. Company evolved into making a very nice air clutch obi press, as well as straight side and high speed presses. Now considered the Cadillac of presses. They no longer make small presses the start at 60 ton straight sides, maybe a 35 high speed press.

Walsh, selling parts today, not sure if its exactly the same company?

Benchmaster, gone, no support

Press Rite, gone, no support

Don't forget Niagara made a lot more than presses, press brakes, shears, rolls, crimpers, beaders, its a long long list. They did make hydraulic press brakes.

Did you know that ever in the 1980's you could NOT buy parts from Niagara for a mechanical clutch machine! We were told that the scrapped them all, guess why?
 
Okay, I am a bit biased, both my parents were lawyers- which, of course, made me not want to be one- but the lawyers, while part of the problem, are only carrying out the wills of the clients- the ones who think the world owes them a free ride.
I have known several people who basically live from one auto accident to the next- they somehow manage to get hit all the time, and its never their fault.
I had an employee who actually worked for me for a while in between insurance settlements. It ran in the family- his dad actually sued the hospital, and got a good hundred grand or so, for eating so much it popped the staples on his stomach reduction surgery- he claimed they never told him not to eat 20lbs of food a day!
Many of the cases that put these companies out of business were bogus- people who decide if they have an accident, its like winning the lottery- never work again.

Now I know there are legitimate industrial accidents, but much of my fathers law practice was defending companies against spurious claims. He tried hundreds of cases over his career with guys who claimed they could never work again, and before video he used to hire private detectives to film these guys- chopping wood, jogging, lifting weights- guys who were "100%" incapacitated. Or slip and falls- he dealt with hundreds of those- pros who hit grocery stores, where there is always a spill.

Nope, lawyers are always on both sides of these claims, and half the lawyers are fighting to keep the companies from paying. Its the freeloader, game show, gimme gimme mentality that keeps this going.
Personally, I have never sued anyone, nor filed a claim for anything but actual damage to cars- but most people see free money in every accident.

However, there are still plenty of companies selling presses of various sorts, many of them european or japanese, where they have legal liabilities like ours- and their US reps must maintain insurance as well. How do they do it?

I maintain they do it by making modern equipment that people want to buy, and therefore will pay enough for to include a profit margin that includes paying for insurance.
Most of the defunct press manufacturers listed above made ancient designed stuff, and never kept up.
Who would buy a new Benchmaster, or Kenco, now? They are one step above a hammer and and anvil.

Its the same story in the Ironworker field- Buffalo cant figure out why nobody wants to buy their 1950's designs instead of modern, machined and well designed, full featured machines with available cnc gaging. Duhh- its a no brainer. Its the same reason you would go bankrupt selling 55 Studebakers today at $45,000.
 








 
Back
Top