How do I find a foundry for sale in Canada?

A small casting foundry is a different purchase from a fabrication or sheet metal shop. It melts and pours metal, so the equipment, the crew and the site all carry more weight. A foundry may never appear in a public listing, and an owner may prefer a quiet sale. Plan to spend as much time asking around as searching. Decide first which metals and casting methods you want, since a shop that pours one alloy cannot always switch to another.

Where foundries come to market

Check industrial business brokers and the larger listing sites, and save a search for foundry and casting terms. Then widen the net. Pattern makers, suppliers of metal, sand and refractory materials, and equipment dealers know which owners are tiring. Customers know too, since a retiring foundry leaves them short of a supplier. Tell each of them what you are looking for and keep the message short.

What the sale includes

Ask how old the furnaces are and when they were last relined or rebuilt. Look at the moulding lines and the finishing area. Find out which patterns and tooling the shop owns and which belong to customers, because whether customer-owned tooling transfers depends on the customer agreement; ask your lawyer. Review the contracts and how much work comes from a few accounts. Then ask about the moulders and melters, whose skill takes years to build.

Check the site before anything else

Foundries have worked with metal, sand and fuel on the same ground for years. Before you go far, ask your lawyer how the site and past conditions affect you under either a share or an asset purchase. Ask an environmental consultant to assess the property. Permit and emission questions are for your lawyer and the regulator, not the seller. If the site is leased, ask the same questions of the landlord.

• Ask for a list of every furnace, with age and recent repair history.
• Ask which patterns and tooling are owned by the shop.
• Ask who the key moulders and melters are and what they have been told.