Astraeus Wind Energy, Inc.

Astraeus Wind Energy: Up to the Challenge

In 2007, then-Governor Jennifer Granholm issued a challenge to manufacturers in her state of Michigan: use your manufacturing expertise to develop a way to make wind energy more affordable. Dowding Industries had been in the steel fabricating, stamping and machining business in Eaton Rapids since 1964 and wanted to diversify its product mix to remain competitive. Through a collaborative agreement with MAG, the nation’s largest machine tool builder, Dowding turned its attention to the wind energy industry and ultimately created a company called Astraeus Wind Energy, appropriately named after the Titan father of the four wind gods in Greek mythology.

By the end of 2007, Dowding had invested over $9 million into building a facility to machine very large castings for the wind industry, specifically wind turbine hubs, the 20-ton component that connects the massive blades of a modern wind turbine to the drive shaft. The state-of-the art facility was designed to house conventional high precision machining equipment.

A Sound Investment but Bad Timing

In hindsight, the timing of this initial investment could not have been worse. From December 2007 to June 2009, the United States tumbled into a deep economic recession. Michigan, already suffering from ongoing job losses in manufacturing, was particularly hard hit as automobile sales plummeted and the auto industry nearly collapsed. In the Lansing area, where the Astraeus factory is located, 52 percent of the 28,500 local manufacturing labor force had been lost in the decade after the year 2000.¹

The economic slowdown threatened the very existence of Astraeus. By September 2008, the young company had its newly built facility, brand new equipment installed and ambitious plans to manufacture turbine components. But according to Jeff Metts, president of both Dowding and Astraeus, “The wind industry began to exit the United States back to Europe and China where they could either find companies with many years of experience or very cheap prices."² Though Metts was ready to hire employees at the onset, with business quickly drying up and their factory idle, the venture ran out of money and the company had to downsize.

Innovative Machining Designs Spawn a ‘Titan’

With Dowding’s investment in Astraeus at risk and a promising new industry—wind turbine manufacturing— retreating from Michigan, Metts knew that the key to getting the venture off the ground was driving down the price per kilowatt-hour through technological advances in machining. Metts says he was in bed when he came up with the design idea for the ‘MegaFlex,’ the new machine that when built, would ensure that the production of wind components would return to his facilities and perhaps, elsewhere in Michigan.

Metts realized that the current machining processes being used to produce the hubs were being done on equipment designs that predated World War II. But the size and weight of the hubs created challenges during the machining process, since the hubs had to be constantly moved in order for the stationary machining equipment to drill hundreds of holes in it. The breakthrough is that the MegaFlex is three-sided, designed specifically around the large hubs. Keeping the component in place and having the machine instead work simultaneously around it would allow the company to significantly increase its output efficiency and reduce machining labor costs.

Once MAG, the company that provided Astraeus with the conventional hub machining tools, confirmed it could construct the new design, Metts knew that Astraeus had found a significant improvement to what was already in the marketplace. Metts says the MegaFlex can increase production rates of the 20-ton turbine hubs from the current standard of one per day to as many as five per day, by reducing machining times from 20 to 24 hours per hub to just over four hours.³

At the same time as the MegaFlex machine design was being developed, Astraeus was in serious talks with potential partners to develop tools and techniques to manufacture improved carbon fiber wind turbine blades. As with the MegaFlex, the emphasis on the design for the ‘Viper 7000’ was on automating the production process, resulting in stronger, lighter and higher quality components. The blades will also be smarter because Astraeus will embed their turbine blades with fiber optics to improve the overall performance and maintenance of the equipment.⁴

Eaton Rapids, Michigan: Back from the Brink

With the help of federal and state grants that it secured in 2009⁵ and 2010,⁶ Astraeus was able to build the two new machines that it had envisioned: the MegaFlex for the machining of the hubs and the other for carbon fiber applications for turbine blades. The company also established formal partnerships with other leaders in advanced manufacturing, such as Dow Chemical, AKSA, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to continue its development of new cost-effective carbon fiber turbine blade materials and components.⁷

With the completion of the MegaFlex in September 2011, hubs that were cast in China are now being sent to the Astraeus facility for machining. At full capacity, the operation of the MegaFlex would employ approximately 50 staff. Metts also said he expects the Viper 7000, also being provided by MAG, to be in commercial operation at the start of 2012 in the Port Huron facility, which would add approximately 50 more employees.

As Astraeus rebounded in the two years after it secured crucial funding, so, too, did the Lansing area. According to the Lansing State Journal, Michigan’s manufacturing sector has made a comeback, with Lansing-area jobs increasing by 30 percent from 2009 to 2011. Astraeus has been able to contribute to that turnaround, hiring 40 Michigan workers since the beginning of 2011.⁸ With the completion of the machinery, Metts expects another 20 employees to be added.

In a further boost to the local economy, the Eaton Rapids community is anticipating a foundry to be built by mid-2012, as soon as final funding is secured. URV USA LLC, the American subsidiary of Finland’s URV Foundry, was awarded a $3.5 million grant and a $500,000 loan from the federal government in 2010 to build the facility⁹ that Metts says will supply them with the hub castings at a price that is 20 percent cheaper than their counterparts in China. Metts also says this will be the first foundry built in the United States in the last 40 years and once completed will employ 200 staff members.

The company believes that once their machining and carbon fiber materials innovations are combined and deployed alongside the new state of the art foundry, Eaton Rapids may become a manufacturing hub. Although the focus initially is on wind power, the new processes have the potential to cross pollinate into the automotive, defense and infrastructure sectors as well, helping to bring Michigan back to the forefront of manufacturing.

Oct 2011

Endnotes