Go inside Thunderbird Metals impact extrusion facilities around the country

Machine operator od left. Robotic arm on right

FACILITIES TOUR

Technology, equipment, and capacity to best serve you

Thunderbird Metals has almost 400,000 combined square feet of manufacturing space at its two U.S. locations: Elk Grove Village, Illinois., and New Albany, Mississippi. Each facility is equipped with the latest equipment and technology to produce high-quality and high-performance components. Our Elk Grove facility specializes in aluminum impact extrusions while New Albany produces both aluminum and steel impact extrusions.

Leadership team collaborating with machine operators on the shop floor

Advanced equipment to advance your business

We have multiple presses that provide the required capacity to serve our growing customer base. Many of our presses—including our 3,300-ton press—feature robotic loading and unloading for high-volume application jobs. We also have presses capable of warm forgings or hot impact extrusions. Our automated processing system cleans and lubricates each steel or aluminum slug prior to pressing.

Utilizing rotary transfer machine technology, we produce parts with extremely tight tolerances at high volume and incorporate visual inspection capabilities.

To ensure we meet the stringent demands of our customers and the industry, we have an on-site quality control lab. Our testing equipment includes a wide array of quality monitoring and testing devices, including coordinating measuring machines, cylinder gauges, height gauges, calipers, and micrometers.

EQUIPMENT
    Elk Grove facility
  • 167,000 square feet
  • 38 mechanical and hydraulic presses up to 1,800 tons
  • 55 machining centers
  • Robotic work cells for machining
  • 5 high-speed slug saws capable of cutting 9 inches diameter
  • 2 fully automated lubrication lines
  • 2 spray washers
  • Heat treating ovens: 2 T4 and 4 T6
  • Tool room including 4 CNC lathes with wire and EDM
  • Forming dies designed, manufactured, qualified, and maintained in-house
    New Albany facility
  • 231,000 square feet
  • 16 horizontal and vertical presses ranging from 60 to 3,300 tons
  • 20 CNC lathes, 8 CNC mills, and machining centers
  • Secondary hydraulic draw and forming units
  • Heat treating ovens: 5 anneal, 2 T4, and 3 T6
  • 3 automated lubrication lines for aluminum and steel impacts
  • Progressive necking press
  • Robotic loading and unloading of presses for high-volume applications
  • Forming dies designed, manufactured, qualified, and maintained in-house

Our people make the biggest impact

More than our advanced equipment, it is the deep knowledge of the people behind the machines that bring real value to our aluminum and steel impact extrusion capabilities. Our experienced engineering, design, sales, and operational teams have extensive industry experience spanning decades.

Impact extrusion engineering
Machine operator at robotic arm station
Quality control
[performance under pressure]