The National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) presented its 2007 Associate Member of the Year Award to East Jordan Iron Works, Inc. (EJIW), of East Jordan during Utility Construction EXPO '08 in January at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa in Kauai, Hawaii. EJIW's Midwest Regional Manager Tom Idema and Joe Lazzati, manager of the company's Finksburg, Md., location, accepted the award.
This award is presented annually to a NUCA associate member who has made a significant contribution on the national level to the industry and/or association. EJIW received the 2007 award for its unswerving support of both NUCA and the utility construction industry over the years. A NUCA member since 1989, the company has been a loyal exhibitor at the past 18 Utility Construction EXPOs. Since 1995, they have been presenting outgoing NUCA presidents with a personalized manhole cover.
William E. Malpass and his father-in-law Richard W. Round established East Jordan Iron Works in November 1883 to service the area's busy lumber industry. In the 1920s, when lumbering operations decreased and eventually moved out of the area, EJIW shifted to the production of street castings, water works valves and fire hydrants. During the 1950s and 1960s, the third generation converted the foundry to an automated high-pressure molding line complex, complete with integrated automatic sand processing and mechanized casting handling facilities. Since the mid-1980s, the business has been led by fourth generation descendants of the Malpass family, who have transformed the Midwest business into a national leader of construction castings by modernizing their facilities, acquiring and establishing additional branch operations, and building a world-class foundry and distribution center in Ardmore, Okla.
