Copper is in the spotlight — with on-again, off-again tariffs, supply chain snags, and debates over reshoring all putting pressure on cost and availability. For HVAC contractors, who depend on copper for everything from refrigerant linesets and coils to press fittings and connections, that makes the reliability of domestic manufacturing more important than ever.
One of those is Nibco’s plant in Stuart’s Draft, Virginia, where the company produces wrot copper fittings. Earlier this month, ACHR NEWS had the opportunity to tour the operation and see firsthand how copper fittings are made — from molten sheets at 2,000°F to boxed and shipped products bound for contractors across the country. Here’s a peek behind the scenes.
(Courtesy of Nibco)
Inside the Plant
The Stuart’s Draft facility consists of three buildings covering more than 420,000 square feet. It’s capable of producing 3,085 SKUs and up to 40 million pounds of copper product annually, given appropriate staffing. The plant includes a full tool room and machine services department, ensuring that production can be supported in-house.
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
On the factory floor, everywhere you look, copper is in motion — rods, billets, tubing, and fittings moving from one process to the next. Even the walkway floors are flecked with copper, ground in by the sheer amount of material and foot traffic each day.
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
The plant’s output is impressive: It produces enough copper tubing annually to stretch across the U.S., and enough fittings to put one in every American home.
Joe Choflet, vice president of sales and marketing at Nibco, said domestic manufacturing definitely puts Nibco at a competitive advantage.
“We’re vertically integrated, making everything all the way through to the finished product, and that has really helped us, especially with some of the recent copper tariffs put in place,” he said
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Copper Creations
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
The manufacturing process starts in the factory’s giant furnace, where sheets of 99.9% pure copper are melted down at more than 2,000°F. The heat radiates so strongly that even 10 yards away, it feels like standing in front of a wall of bonfires.
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
Once molten, the copper is poured into billets or rods, which are then formed into tubing, elbows, and other shapes.
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
Then, they’re machined into final fittings.
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
The Stuart’s Draft facility manufactures traditional wrot copper fittings as well as specialized product lines such as WROTRacer Push, press system fittings, PressG, and PressACR.
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
Once completed, items move into the warehouse, where they are bagged, boxed, and shipped to distribution channels
Sustainability and Safety
Nibco promotes a “100% green” copper process. Every shaving, scrap, and unused piece of copper is vacuumed up, recycled back into the system, melted down, and reused. Nothing is wasted.
(Video by The ACHR NEWS staff)
Equally important is safety. Stuart’s Draft is one of the most highly automated copper factories in the world, with robots handling routine packing and moving tasks while human workers focus on jobs that require more judgment and skill.
(Video by The ACHR NEWS staff)
Meanwhile, human overseers check the robots multiple times per hour to ensure everything runs smoothly.
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
Safety procedures and PPE guidelines are prominently posted throughout the plant, and the company’s OSHA-certified Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) trophies are displayed as soon as you walk in the door.
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
The company has made big investments in safety and, just as importantly, creating a culture of safety among employees throughout the plant. And their work has paid off.
“If you look at TCIR [Total Case Incident Rate] as an indicator for safety, ours is extremely low for a manufacturing facility, especially when you’re pouring hot metal,” said Choflet.
Pride of Ownership
Beyond automation, the plant is defined by its people. The facility operates under an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), meaning associates share in company ownership.
(Photo by The ACHR NEWS staff)
Nearly 15% of associates at the Stuart’s Draft plant have been with Nibco for 25 years or longer. Some are third- and fourth-generation with the company. Nibco’s longest-tenured employee has been with the company for more than 60 years. For comparison, the median tenure for U.S. wage/salary workers in 2024 was just under 4 years, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.