From the Editor Masters of Recovery and Reinvention In a recent speech to Congress, the Prime
Minister of Australia Julia Gillard stated that Australia and the world still looks to the U.S; that we are the masters of recovery and reinvention. I think the same can be said for our metalcasting industry. This wasn’t the
picture or future we were seeing or projecting two years ago (or even last year). As we saw our number
reinvent ourselves and, more importantly, what should we be doing? I recently attended an Advanced
America’s Heartland leading the recovery by showing that farming and the industries that support it (including metalcasting) are growing and reinvesting.
of casting facilities continue to decline (from 2,800 in 2000 to 2,040 today) and orders for metal castings and materials reaching historic lows in tonnage, we only could envision further erosion, weakness and decimation. But as is usually the case with many of these past economic cycles, our core values and strengths helped us turn the tide.
The scenes that many pundits on
Wall Street and talking heads on news programs love to portray—empty buildings, broken windows and rusting equipment as a symbol of the decay in American manufacturing—recently was contradicted by the Super Bowl ad featuring the rap-singer Eminem of 8 Mile fame and the new Chrysler campaign “Imported from Detroit.” America’s Heartland is leading the recovery by showing that farming and the industries that support it (including metalcasting) are growing and reinvesting. The same can be said for mining, energy and transportation making a comeback. The hottest fires do make the hardest steel. So what about the reinvention? Almost as many movies are being made in Michigan as Hollywood. The Indy500 might be the next TV series. But what are we, the metalcasting industry, doing to
International Journal of Metalcasting/Spring 11
Materials Road-Mapping Workshop for Light-Duty and Heavy Duty Vehicles in Southfield, Michigan. While the need for the increased use of aluminum and magnesium in these vehicles was discussed by the engineers, it was stated that bigger gains could be made by improvements in processing and manufacturing systems to achieve better dimensional tolerances, surface finish, nearer net shape, and property consistency, all of which results in lighter weights for castings currently being produced. This includes the gray iron engine block heads drum, and rotor, and cast ductile and aluminum chassis and suspension parts. At the same time as the above meeting, a
New Generation Sand Casting Workshop & Consortium was being held at AFS with a focus on collaborative research activity to improve dimensional accuracy and tolerances in sand casting. The workshop
Thomas Prucha
Editor International Journal of Metalcasting AFS Vice President of Technology
tprucha@afsinc.org
5
was attended by almost fifty people representing twelve metalcasting facilities, fifteen metalcasting supply companies and three research organizations. The workshop included brainstorming sessions to help define technical challenges and identify potential paths forward to move sand casting
into the future. This shows that our industry realizes that to continue to grow, we must reinvent ourselves and improve processes and technology. On a sad note, our industry recently lost another great leader, my former boss and mentor, Ray H. Witt. He exemplified the mantra of recovery and reinvention. He believed in reinvestment, trying new technologies, being involved in our industry and supporting the industry’s technical and educational organizations with both financial and human resources. In the spirit of Ray Witt, the
opportunities in metalcasting are plentiful. Whether you take advantage of those presented at the 115th
AFS Metalcasting
Congress in Schaumburg, Illinois April 5-8 or at another opportunity at your facility, the key is take the step forward. We must continue to be our own masters and write our own story.
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