Manhattan Plant

Farrar Corporation celebrated the opening of its new machining facility in Manhattan, Kansas with a ribbon cutting ceremony on April 14 and a two-day open house for the public on June 1 and 2, 2000. The 31,000 sq. ft building is located on a 30-acre site in the east Manhattan Industrial Park at 301 Levee Drive. Future plans for the site include the construction of a foundry and heat treating facilities within the next 10 years. The company will continue to operate its current ductile iron casting and machining facilities in Norwich, Kansas.

Initial production is centered on machining ductile iron castings produced at the Norwich foundry for a wide variety of original equipment manufacturing customers. The company also plans to machine castings at the Manhattan facility that are produced by other foundries. The machining equipment is centered around two Mori-Seiki SH-630 CNC Horizontal Machining Centers each with a 120 station automatic tool changer connected to a 18 pallet AGV system capable of running several different jobs at the same time. This system can be expanded to include additional machining centers and pallets. It is capable of operating in a "lights out" environment. Other machines include a Mori-Seiki CL-25 CNC Lathe. Dimensions are checked using one of two programmable Giddings and Lewis Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMM). Additional machines will be added in the future to increase capacity and expand capabilities.

Employment is expected to grow to over 100 within the next 10 years. There will be opportunities for machine operators, tool designers and builders, and CNC programmers as well as shipping and receiving, data entry, and other office clerical work. The facility is a drug and tobacco free working environment. Salaries and benefits are competitive within the area and the industry. Manhattan is a beautiful city of about 45,000 located 8 miles north of I-70 at the northern end of the Flint Hills and about 2 hours by auto from both Kansas City and Wichita. It is the home of Kansas State University.

Farrar Corporation - Manhattan, Kansas