EXPLORING SHORING AND QUALITY DESIGN
The Cast in North America educational sessions included panels and presentations on the industry’s biggest issues.
Bringing Casting Business Back to North America
Whether the word is rightshor-
ing, reshoring, inshoring, off shoring or onshoring, buyers and suppliers are increasingly concerned with where castings are being produced. Off shoring refers to purchasing cast-
ings from foreign suppliers. According to the presenters of the panel “Bring- ing Casting Business Back to North America,” the trend to off shore is not as popular as it was in the past. Stephen
Doyle, Meritor Inc., Troy, Mich., and Jim McKee, John Deere Foundry, Waterloo, Iowa, said issues with off shoring include an extended waiting period to receive fi nished pieces (mostly due to shipping). However, material shortages are not as prevalent in off shore suppliers as they are in North America, and more open capac- ity sometimes can be found overseas. Onshoring and inshoring mean
purchasing cast components from your own nation or continent. A benefi t of onshoring typically would be a quicker
casting turnaround. However, if met- alcasting facilities are running at or above capacity, this is not guaranteed. Reshoring is bringing business back
to a domestic supplier. According to the presenters, the industry is eager yet cautious to bring casting business back to the U.S. Key challenges include material shortages, restrictive envi- ronmental regulations and the lack of available capacity. In response to these issues,
procurement plans are growing in complexity. Buyers can no longer sim- ply go with the best piece price. T ey must weigh their options—quality, delivery, time to produce and price— before making a decision.
Cost Effective Casting Design Renowned design expert Mike
Gwyn, program director, South Caro- lina Research Association, Columbia, S.C., provided designers with an in-depth presentation on how geom- etry aff ects the manufacturability and performance of metal castings. Gwyn said geometry is the pathway
to cost eff ectiveness and performance improvement and breaks geometry down into four categories: • Castability geometry. • Process geometry. • Downstream processing geometry. • Structural geometry. According to Gwyn, castability
geometry is the way casting shape interacts with the metallurgical charac- teristics of casting alloys. It has a pro- found eff ect on the success of a casting because it changes the way molten metal fl ows into the mold cavity and the temperature of the material varies in diff erent casting sections. “Well designed casting geometry
can interact positively with the physics and result in a more robust casting,” Gwyn said.
46 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | May/Jun 2012
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