HPM and wind power in the spotlight

The Christian Science Monitor has a story today about Midwestern factories converting to serving the wind-energy market. The focus is squarely on HPM in Mount Gilead, Ohio. The story is headlined "Can wind power save the Midwest? Renewable energy isn't big enough to offset declines in the auto industry, but companies are gung-ho for any new business." The story notes that HPM, which started in 1877 making cider mills, owes its survival to a decision to make parts for wind turbines.

Without that, says Chris Filos, HPM's owner and CEO, "We'd have been out of business long ago."

Which explains why HPM had a 3-kilowatt wind turbine at NPE2009, taking up space that a few shows ago would have been used to feature one of the company's injection molding presses or extrusion lines. According to the Monitor story, wind power is a growing market, and domestic manufacturers are pushing for a greater share of the pie.