editorial E
Enhancing My Perspective
S ‘‘
tanding on the CastExpo exhibition fl oor last month, I made a 360-degree turn to see all the sights before my eyes. T e shiny equipment. T e bright lights. T e networking. T e potential for the future.
T e best of metalcasting was on display at
the once-every-three-year showcase, and I was in awe. To understand where this industry was in 2009-10, to see where it is today and to think where it is going is amazing. Many had expected North American metalcasting to go the way of the dinosaurs. Instead, it is now a beacon of success the rest of the world points to.
Couple this investment with the tremendous expansion and adoption of additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping that is occurring, and you have an industry poised to handle the future.”
Yes, we have signifi cant challenges: • Critical markets like agriculture, energy and mining are signifi cantly down.
• Finding skilled labor (or any labor at all) is diffi cult.
• You, as casting buyers, continue to demand more and want to pay less.
run in the magazine in the last year: • Waupaca Unveils New Growth Strategy • Linamar, GF Automotive Choose North Carolina for New Operations
Enhancing My
• Sahkti Breaks Ground on Aluminum Casting Facility in Detroit
• Kamtek to Invest in New Diecasting Facility in Alabama
• Warren Buff et t’s Berkshire Hathaway Purchases Precision Castparts Hopefully, these headlines and the other
regularly occurring positive news can fi nally put to rest the misnomer that new casting facilities and expansion aren’t happening in the U.S. Couple this investment with the tremendous expansion and adoption of additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping that is occurring, and you have an industry poised to handle the future. When the down markets return to some normalcy, watch out for North American metalcasting. While my messages in this editorial space
• Today’s regulatory environment is stifl ing to manufacturing.
But look at just a few of the headlines we have Alfred Spada, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief • Fritz Winter to Build Casting Facility in Kentucky
If you have any comments about this editorial or any other item that appears in Metal Casting Design & Purchasing, email me at
aspada@afsinc.org.
May/Jun 2016 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 7
tend to cheerlead the positive, I am calling it like I see it. In your production-driven world, you must focus on fi nding the proper supplier for a family of parts or improving the performance of a single aluminum component. My responsibility is to scream from the mountaintops a 10,000-ft-view that examines the trends in the industry. I gained some additional perspective on the state of metalcasting while on the CastExpo show fl oor. Hopefully, you have as well.
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