Inside ICI


New Investment Casting Institute Website Rollout


T


he Investment Casting Institute is proud to announce the unveiling of its newly designed website.


Located at www.investmentcasting.org, the new site offers users a significantly enriched experience over its predecessor, with enhanced navigation and new content. The release of the site represents the culmination of several years of effort put forth by the Marketing Committee and the ICI staff. The new site offers a comprehensive


approach to content philosophy based on reader demographics, addressing the needs and interests of foundries, industry suppliers, casting buyers and students. Many of the features to which users have


grown accustomed have


been enhanced, content that formerly had limited access is now in the public domain and new content has been added to both the public and members only section of the site. “It is our objective to offer the industry a versatile site that serves the interests of the investment casting community at large, while at the same time, letting non-member companies know what the Institute has to offer,” stated ICI Executive Director Joseph Fritz. “The initial release of the website, is just the beginning, as there is a significant amount of new content yet to be added. The fact is, the new site will be much more dynamic than the old site, continually evolving to meet the changing needs of our industry.” The site offers enhanced navigation tools through the use of drop down menus and Quicklinks, which offers direct access to other pages in the same section of the site. The site is mobile-ready, requiring no special apps to access content or read INCAST Magazine, and Member companies can use the website’s calendar feature to support promotion of their upcoming events by simply completing a form in the Members-Only area. feature


Another is a crawl with ICI sponsor


logos, adding greater benefit to those 4 ❘ April 2017


companies taking advantage of one of the many sponsorship opportunities offered by the Institute. The former website’s most used feature, the Member Directory, has now been subdivided into a Foundry Directory and Supplier Directory search tool. The Foundry Directory has been enhanced to allow buyers to search by part size and geometry. Both directories now support a keyword search and incorporate Google Maps into their respective search results pages, benefitting casters, suppliers, casting buyers and students who wish to focus on Members in a specific geographic region.


A nice addition to the site is its


incorporation of streaming video, affording the Institute the opportunity to share important events and commentary with the industry. Pioneering Perspectives, a series of video interviews with industry founders and pioneers, is now in the public domain as well as award ceremony footage from the Institute’s technical conferences. Features soon to be incorporated in the Members-Only section will include streaming videos of Keynote Speakers from spring and fall meetings as well as the Institute’s process video and six part training video series on investment casting.


Other new content includes a section dedicated to the Institute’s educational outreach initiatives, an Administrative Resource section that addresses Equipment Sales, Government Affairs, Economic Charts, Labor Law and Safety resources, and a Save Our History page, featuring people and publications from the Institute’s 63 years of existence. One of the free for download publications available in the Save Our History section is Investment Casting Trends, a predecessor to INCAST Magazine that was published from 1962 through the early 1970s. Some of the articles make for very interesting reading and the content was developed by industry pioneers.


One of the best features of the new site is the it is fully integrated with the Institute’s Association Management System (AMS), affording designated Member Representatives direct access to their profiles, ecommerce and many other features. The AMS is now up and operational, but like the website, not all features have been activated at this time. The Institute anticipates that both the website and the AMS will have all features and associated Member Benefits fully active by June 30, 2017, as per schedule.


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