Wah Chang Corporation was an American manufacturing company in the metal or alloy industry based in

Albany, Oregon Albany is the county seat of Linn County, Oregon, and is the eleventh largest city in that state. Albany is located in the Willamette Valley at the confluence of the Calapooia River and the Willamette River in both Linn and Benton counties, just ...

in the United States. Since 2014, it is a business unit of

ATI Ati or ATI may refer to: * Ati people, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines **Ati language (Philippines), the language spoken by this people group ** Ati-Atihan festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines *Ati language (China), a ...

History

In 1916 (some sources say 1914),

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

mining engineer Kuo-Ching "KC" Li, Sr. founded the company in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

state, under the name Wah Chang Trading Corporation. ''Wah Chang'' is Cantonese for "fortunate enterprise" or "great development". This expanded as an international

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

ore and concentrate trading company. Li remained with the company until his death in 1961, serving as president until 1960 and then board chairman. In 1946, the company built a plant in

Union City, New Jersey Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census the city had a total population of 68,589,Calento, Nevada, and near

Bishop, California Bishop (formerly Bishop Creek) is a city in California, United States. It is the largest populated place and only incorporated city in Inyo County. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of . The city was ...

. In 1953, Stephen W. H. Yih, who had Master's Degrees in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, was hired by Wah Chang Trading Corporation in New York to head up the Titanium Project. In 1955, Kuo-Ching Li, Sr., Founder of the Wah Chang Trading Corporation, New York, sent his top engineer, Stephen W. H. Yih to the Titanium Development Plant to learn how to make Titanium. This is where he met Wing Muin Mark, who was directing operations at the Titanium Development Plant. Within one year, Mark and Yih collaborated to produce the highest purity titanium in the world. In 1956, the Energy Commission (AEC) contracted with Wah Chang to operate the U.S. Bureau of Mines zirconium plant in

, to develop high-purity

zirconium Zirconium is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name ''zirconium'' is taken from the name of the mineral zircon, the most important source of zirconium. The word is related to Persian '' zargun'' (zircon; ''zar-gun'' ...

for use in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

's nuclear program. After Wah Chang was granted an additional two-year contract, it decided to build its own zirconium production facility. In May 1956, the Albany, Oregon based Wah Chang Corporation hired Wing Muin Mark, as its 2nd employee behind Yih. Mark was tasked with designing the plant and production equipment and supervising operations for the new Zirconium plant. Wah Chang began construction of its new plant in August. And on Christmas Day 1956, just four months later, the first commercially produced batch of Zirconium sponge was pulled from the reduction furnaces at the new production facility. Mark later developed the processes for making high-purity Hafnium and Titanium. In the early 1970s, Wing Mark proposed the idea of making high-purity Hafnium Crystal Bar to Teledyne Wah Chang Albany. He went on to design the production plant, equipment, and process which produced a 99.99999% Hafnium purity, earning him the nickname, “Mr. Hafnium.” Wah Chang was privately owned by K.C. Li until 1967, when it was acquired by Teledyne, the main Albany plant (located in the then-unincorporated area known as Millersburg) becoming a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

named Teledyne Wah Chang Albany, or TWCA. In 1966, Wah Chang had around 1,200 employees, in plants in Albany, Oregon;

Glen Cove, New York Glen Cove is a city in Nassau County, New York, United States, on the North Shore of Long Island. At the 2020 United States Census, the city population was 28,365 as of the 2020 census. The city was considered part of the early 20th century ...

;

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

; and

Texas City, Texas Texas City is a city in Galveston County in the U.S. state of Texas. Located on the southwest shoreline of Galveston Bay, Texas City is a busy deepwater port on Texas's Gulf Coast, as well as a petroleum-refining and petrochemical-manufacturin ...

, and sales of $40.7 million. The Albany plant was by far the largest, and at the time of its sale to Teledyne, it accounted for around $20 million in annual revenue, with 860 employees at that location. The Alabama factory became a separate subsidiary named Teledyne Wah Chang Huntsville. In 1975, TWCA had 1,400 employees, and had $100 million in annual sales. The Millersburg plant was listed as a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency ...

site in 1983, requiring environmental clean-up, which the company carried out over the following several years. After Teledyne merged with Allegheny Ludlum Corporation in 1996, to become

Allegheny Technologies Incorporated ATI Inc. (previously Allegheny Technologies Incorporated) is an American producer of specialty materials, the company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. ATI produces titanium and titanium alloys, nickel-based alloys and superalloys, grain- ...

, the company became ATI Wah Chang.

Wah Chang People

* Kuo-Ching "KC" Li, Sr. - Founder, President, and Chairman of Wah Chang Corporation. *Wing Muin Mark (a.k.a. "Mr. Hafnium") - Chief Engineer/Architect/Operations Manager at Wah Chang Corporation and Teledyne Wah Chang Albany, who developed the processes for producing high-purity Hafnium (99.99999%), Zirconium, and Titanium. Mark received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry and a Minor in Metallurgy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1949. * Stephen W. H. Yih - Engineer and President (after Kuo-Ching Li, Sr.) of Teledyne Wah Chang Albany in Albany. Yih served as President for 20 years. *Edmund F. Baroch - Vice President of Teledyne Wah Chang in Albany, Oregon

Merger and Acquisition

* 1916 Kuo-Ching Li founded Wah Chang Trading Corporation in New York state. * 1967 Acquired by Teledyne and became Teledyne Wah Chang Albany (TWCA) located in Albany, Oregon. It became a subsidiary of Teledyne. * Wah Chang's Alabama plant became Teledyne Wah Chang Huntsville, a subsidiary of Teledyne. * 1996 Teledyne acquired by Allegheny Ludlum Corporation, which created parent company named Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI). Teledyne Wah Chang became ATI Wah Chang. * 2014 ATI Wah Chang renamed ATI Specialty Alloys and Components, a business unit of

ATI

In March 2014, it was renamed ATI Specialty Alloys and Components.

References

{{Teledyne Manufacturing companies based in Oregon Companies based in Albany, Oregon Manufacturing companies established in 1916 1916 establishments in New York (state) Metal companies of the United States 1967 mergers and acquisitions 2014 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1916 Teledyne Technologies

History

Wah Chang People

Merger and Acquisition

ATI

See also

References