Farrar Corporation was founded in 1933, by Ernst Clifford (E.C.) Farrar, as a blacksmith and repair shop in the small town of Norwich, Kansas.  E. C. Farrar had a talent for fixing things, and he used that skill to serve his rural community. Almost 90 years later, that single shop on main street has evolved into a foundry, a custom pattern shop, a CNC machining facility, along with corporate offices, and a secondary CNC machining facility across the state in Manhattan.

Today, Farrar is a leading supplier of ductile iron castings and quality machined components thanks to our core values of integrity, stewardship, teamwork, continuous improvement, commitment to creative value, and emphasis on long-term customer relationships, all of which have been embedded into the company since day one.

There is a strong sense of pride that radiates through Farrar because it was built on small-town roots, a persistent work ethic, and American ingenuity.

The answer to how we became a leader in the industry starts in the 1950s, which saw the first shift in the company that would lean us heavily into farm repair. E.C. Farrar’s sons, Max and Paul, joined the family-owned business after serving in the Army during World War II and helped develop improvements for combines including the highly successful sickle drive, a contribution that is a prime example of the type of innovation and forward-thinking that have always been ingrained into the DNA of Farrar. This led to a focus on various parts for farm equipment and we became a popular spot for farm repair across the region.

Soon after this shift, it became clear that pouring our own ductile iron was the next logical step. Doing it in-house would be cheaper and give us more control over the parts. So, in 1967 the foundry was opened in Norwich.

The success of this move was so apparent that planning to expand and remodel the foundry began. Joe Farrar, who would become a longtime president of the company later in his career, designed the foundry that resembles the one you see today back in 1974.

In the following years, the farm repair business model began to weaken, and a drastic overhaul of Farrar would start to take place. 1988 became a landmark year for the company as we dropped our own product line to focus only on providing cast and machined parts to O.E.M customers. This transition was overseen by Joe, who took over as president that same year.

By the late 90s, it came time for another round of expansion. When the search for new land adjacent to the Norwich campus hit a dead end, Joe started to entertain the idea of expanding the company to a separate location. Through a long decision process, Manhattan, Kansas became the chosen destination due to the city’s exciting bid, geographical benefits, and cultural fit. Not to mention, the Farrar family has a long history of devotion to the Kansas State Wildcats. New corporate offices and a state-of-the-art CNC machining facility were constructed and opened in Manhattan in 2000.

These changes have shaped us into who we are today, which is a vertically integrated manufacturer that provides the highest quality products, services, and turnkey solutions to our loyal customers.

Though we are proud of our past, we are even more excited about the future under the leadership of our new president Scott Case. The recent investments in a 2,500 KW Inductotherm coreless induction furnace and now a new FBO-IIIS 20 x 24 from Roberts Sinto molding line bring new capabilities to our foundry so we can continue to provide our customers with the very best products and service in the industry.

If our history of innovation, hard work, and a commitment to improvement is any indication; then we’re just getting started.

Growth is essential at Farrar Corporation.

Capital investments into our facilities are a priority for us and have helped us develop into a lead supplier of ductile iron castings.

Our vision statement, “striving to be a company that provides the highest quality products, services and turnkey solutions,” speaks to this commitment. Without continuous advancement, we would fail to live up to this promise.

That’s why as technology has evolved, so do we. The equipment in our pattern shop, machine shops, and foundry needs to keep pace with the ever-changing technology and machinery that exist in our industry.

“In the metal casting and machining industries, you either reinvest or eventually get left behind,” said Gregg Farrar, VP/Chief Financial Officer of Farrar. “It is vitally important for us to invest in capital improvements at Farrar Corporation to meet the growth goals we have as well as to take advantage of the ever-changing technology improvements. The increased capacity and leveraging of the latest technology will allow us to continue to meet and exceed our customer’s needs.”

This spring, we took another leap forward with the installation of a state-of-the-art FBO-IIIS 20 x 24 molding line from Roberts Sinto at our ductile iron sand casting foundry in Norwich, Kansas.

It will increase our capacity as well as help us be more efficient and more cost-effective, all while keeping our high standards of quality.

The addition of the molding line comes as part of an effort to produce castings with tighter tolerance, tighter process controls and continual improved quality.

Robert Pyle, who is the Plant Manager at our Norwich facility, is looking forward to the effects this new investment will have on production.

“It opens up more capacity to help reduce lead times,” said Pyle. “The new line blows vertically which reduces the wear and tear on customer tooling. It will allow us to pull pockets and contours that we were not capable of doing before without adding cores which will reduce costs.”

The 20 x 24 Roberts Sinto replaces the older 14 x 19 model, giving our foundry more capability as it can run 110 molds per hour and is equipped with 186 cooling positions.

Our foundry currently has two other FBN Roberts Sinto machines, with the new installation bringing us to three production lines to produce 20” x 24” molds.

The increased capacity will help us provide better service to our current customers and grow our foundry to welcome new customers.

This development comes on the heels of recent capital investments including two new 2500KW Inductotherm coreless induction furnaces that were installed in 2020 and two DMG-Mori NTX 5-axis CNC machining centers that were added last year. We also replaced the General Kinematics (GK) Vibradrum with a GK media drum.

“We are excited to add new equipment that allows us to be at the forefront of our industry in producing the very best quality vertically integrated castings,” said Pyle.

These growth opportunities were necessary as we look to meet the needs of companies who are reshoring and looking to get their ductile iron castings domestically. Farrar looks forward to the instant advantages that the new molding line will bring and we are excited to see what the future holds.

At Farrar Corporation, we are proud to say that all our products are made right here in the USA, and we’ve been doing it that way since our humble beginnings back in 1933. We now have almost 90 years of innovative American manufacturing behind us, and it has transformed us into a leading supplier of ductile iron castings and quality machined components. With two Kansas locations, we manufacture our ISO Certified products right in the heartland of America and provide our customers with a vertically integrated process that ensures complete control over production. Nothing is outsourced, and it’s all done domestically.

There are several key advantages to reshoring your manufactured parts, including supply chain security, faster delivery times, and increased customer responsiveness. We believe in the benefits of domestic sourcing, and it allows us to provide our customers with first-rate service.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, these advantages have only heightened. Port lockdowns, increased tariffs, and product shortages have all led more and more companies back to American manufacturing.

Though we’ve made it through the pandemic and have returned to normalcy here in the U.S., the recent lockdown of the Port of Shanghai is another reminder of endless supply chain disruptions occurring overseas.

Experts are warning of upcoming negative impacts, including comments from the JB Hunt transportation company in an article posted on April 24^th in Quartz News.

“That certainly is going to make its way back into the US here this summer,” said Shelly Simpson, chief commercial officer of JB Hunt, “It just takes a little bit of disruption to really change the environment all over again.”

Reshoring provides a solution to these issues both in the short-term effects that will be prevalent the rest of the year, and the long-term security of your supply chain moving forward.

The “Reshoring Initiative” (reshorenow.org) – is a great resource for companies to compare the costs and benefits of reshoring and offshoring. The non-profit organization has been tracking data on the issue since they were founded in 2010 and have reported an increase in reshoring and foreign direct investment (FDI) job announcements each year. In their 2021 report posted on June 2^nd, 2022, they saw a record 261,00 new manufacturing jobs move back into the United States, a sign that this trend will only continue to grow.

Harry Moser, founder of the Reshoring initiative outlined several motivations for reshoring in a July 2021 article published in casting source.

“Reshoring enables risk mitigation, resilience, agility, responsiveness, and faster time to market…” Moser said. “Through reshoring, you can meet consumer expectations and reconcile concerns about far-flung supply chains. At the same time, you can deliver quality products while eliminating the hidden costs and risks of offshore manufacturing.”

Just as reshoring efforts are rising, we too are growing here at Farrar.

Our most recent capital investment included a new FBO-IIIS 20 x 24 molding line from Roberts Sinto which will greatly increase the capacity of our foundry.

“As companies look to re-shore their ductile iron castings and machining, Farrar remains committed to our extraordinary customer service, exceptional quality, and a strong commitment to continued investments in resources,” said Farrar Corporation President/CEO Scott Case. “Our company allows you more flexibility over your order dates, increased ability to modify your order quantities, and tighter controls over your tooling and sourcing needs. Farrar is dedicated to ‘Made in America’ and looks forward to being your first contact to re-shore your ductile iron castings.”