engineering

HarbisonWalker International

HarbisonWalker International is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand HarbisonWalker International rather than just read about it. In short: HarbisonWalker International (HWI) is a refractory solutions provider headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. HWI resulted from the merger of Harbison-Walker Refractories, A.P.

Key takeaways

HarbisonWalker International belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect HarbisonWalker International to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of HarbisonWalker International from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

HarbisonWalker International (HWI) is a refractory solutions provider headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. HWI resulted from the merger of Harbison-Walker Refractories, A.P. Green and North American Refractories in 2002, forming the ANH Refractories Company which was renamed HarbisonWalker International in 2015. It combined its operations with Calderys in 2023 and became the group's brand for the Americas region.

History HarbisonWalker International (HWI) was created by the merger of Harbison-Walker, A.P. Green, and North American Refractories, all considered among the Big 5 of the firebrick industry during the first half of the 20th century. The Harbison and Walker Company was founded in Pennsylvania in 1875 when Hay Walker Sr. and Samuel P. Harbison bought the company Star Fire Brick Company founded 10 years earlier. It became the Harbbison-Walker Refractories Company in 1902, merged with Dresser Industries in 1967 but demerged from Dresser in 1992. In 1999, Harbison-Walker managed 4,000 employees and 25 locations in 7 countries (15 production sites in the USA, 3 in Canada) when it was acquired by the Austrian conglomerate RHI Refractories. Missouri-born Allen Percival Green (1875-1956) worked temporarily for Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, and then bought the Mexico Brick and Fire Clay Company in 1910. The A.P. Green Fire Brick Company grew strong during World War I, developed internationally between the wars, and grew again strongly after World War II. A.P. Green's company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1966, and was taken over by Gypsum (USG) in 1967. In 1998, A.P. Green was sold to the Austrian conglomerate RHI Refractories. North American Refractories Co. (NARCO) was created in 1929 in Ohio through the merger of seven manufacturers of refractory solutions (including Canada-based North American Refractories, Ltd). NARCO grew through acquisitions the following decades, and was acquired by Eltra Corp. in 1965. Eltra Corp. was acquired by Allied Corp. in 1979, making NARCO part of Allied's chemical division. NARCO was then owned by Didier-Werke AG of Wiesbaden in 1989 and sold in 1995 to the Austrian group Veitsch-Radex in 1996, a subsidiary of RHI. In 2002, many US refractory companies - including Harbison-Walker, A.P. Green, and North American Refractories - were embroiled in the abestos claims and filed for bankruptcy. RHI had combined its US subsidiaries under the RHI Americas banner, which spun off after the bankruptcy and became ANH Refractories Company in 2002. In 2015, ANH Refractories changed its name to HarbisonWalker International (HWI) and engaged in its own digital transformation the following years. In 2023, a US private investment firm acquired HWI and combined its operations with its other refractory company Calderys, with the new name "HWI, a member of Calderys" and acting as the Americas' arm of Calderys.

Activities HarbisonWalker International (HWI) is a refractory solutions provider headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company manufactures and distributes high temperature solutions, from refractories to casting fluxes and molding solutions. R&D is headed at HWI's Innovation Center in West Mifflin, PA. The company operates under the commercial name "HWI, a member of Calderys" since it was combined with Calderys in 2023. Michel Cornelissen has been President and CEO of Calderys, including HWI, since February 2023.

Notes

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with HarbisonWalker International

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what HarbisonWalker International claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to HarbisonWalker International before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about HarbisonWalker International ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of HarbisonWalker International

In research: HarbisonWalker International appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses HarbisonWalker International in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: HarbisonWalker International is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1875 establishments in Pennsylvania, American companies established in 1875, Combustion engineering, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for HarbisonWalker International outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study HarbisonWalker International in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what HarbisonWalker International means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain HarbisonWalker International out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is HarbisonWalker International in simple terms?

HarbisonWalker International (HWI) is a refractory solutions provider headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. HWI resulted from the merger of Harbison-Walker Refractories, A.P.

Why does HarbisonWalker International matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study HarbisonWalker International?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on HarbisonWalker International.