tions of steering committees. Te current practice of tribal knowledge being passed down from member-to- member doesn’t work to accomplish this essential task.
Technology Roadmap You may ask “Why use a technol-
ogy roadmap at all? Don’t we know what we need in metalcasting?” Te fact is, a technology roadmap plays an essential role that matches short- term and long-term goals with specific technology solutions to help meet those goals. Developing a roadmap has three major uses. It helps reach a consensus about a set of needs and the technolo- gies required to satisfy those needs, it provides a mechanism to help fore- cast technology developments, and it provides a framework to help plan and coordinate technology developments. In May 2016, the American Met-
alcasting Consortium (AMC) finalized its release of the 2016 Metalcasting Industry Roadmap. According to the AFS website, “Te project culminated a two-year industry collaboration to identify future research and develop- ment needs to accelerate the growth of advanced manufacturing in the U.S. Te goal of the roadmap is to help manufacturers identify, select, and develop technological alternatives and ensure a competitive U.S. metalcast- ing industry.” Te report states the roadmap was used to “develop and document metalcasting capability gaps, solutions, and recommendations for areas of investment that will strengthen and catalyze the U.S. metalcasting infrastructure in advanced casting production. Te resulting roadmap is divided into four main topic areas: Process, Materials, Design, and Work- force, with readily executable key tasks mapped to timelines in each area.” We need to mobilize Division
Council, its various divisions, and their respective committees to utilize the roadmap to develop project ideas. Doing so will increase our assurance that the projects containing technol- ogy solutions that are presented for funding match our long-term needs for maintaining competitiveness in the global casting market.
There is a need to conduct research that supports the university community, whether it leads to technology that is transferred to the foundry floor or not.
Global Competition It is difficult to accurately compare
research generated and implemented here in the U.S. with the rest of the world. Views and opinions expressed to me along with my own experience sug- gests that Germany excels in commer- cializing process improvements. Italy is a leader in the field of die castings. My observation concerning Ger-
man innovation was the focus on sustainability and environmental regulations driving product improve- ments. For instance, the advanced inorganic binders commercialized for aluminum automotive applications and reductions in monomer content in traditional organic binders reduced “free” furfuryl alcohol in furan nobake binders and free phenol content in urethane cold-box binders. As to the rest of the developing
world, particularly where the manufac- turing base is still emerging and/or still growing—Southeast Asia, China, and India—those countries have unfair, but
real advantages, as their governments fund research to support manufacturing growth. Tis is a luxury U.S. metalcast- ers don’t have. Te AMC Roadmap weighed in
on the threat of global competition by saying, “Increasingly, the U.S. met- alcasting industry will need to reduce its cost of production to remain glob- ally competitive. If non-U.S. manufac- turers can benefit from low-cost labor and lax environmental constraints, U.S. manufacturers will continue to be at a disadvantage. “Dramatic increases in U.S. met-
alcasting productivity and product and process technology are the economic answer to competition from com- modity castings produced outside the U.S. Design, process, and material improvements to open new markets and applications, enhance metalcasting practices, advance alloy and component performance, and attract employees and students are all needed for the U.S. industry to realize its potential.”
June 2017 MODERN CASTING | 31
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