Inside ICI


REGIONAL MEETING


Muskegon, Michigan By Barbara Tiseo, Meeting & Event Planner Convention Center. O


n November 2, 2023 the ICI hosted


a Regional Meeting


at the Delta Hotel Muskegon Regional Meetings


are open to anyone participating in the Investment Casting Industry, Member and Non-Member alike and are free of charge.


On October 31, eleven inches of


snow fell in Muskegon, power was lost throughout the area, with rolling blackouts and whiteout conditions. I was not sure if the meeting was going to take place. Once I landed in Grand Rapids, on November 1, I made a series of phone calls. I was assured by all that the “Meeting was a GO!” Despite the weather, we had a great turnout of 55 attendees, with participants from as far away as Turkey and California. I was relieved on a professional


level, that the meeting was still able to take place, and once the meeting began on November 2, I saw familiar faces plus a lot of new ones. I was also relieved on a personal level. You see, our industry colleagues enjoy the Regional Meetings, mostly due to their size, and the ability to network and develop new relationships with customers and suppliers. Our meeting began with a


6 ❘ November 2023 ®


presentation on Utilizing 3D Printing to Quickly Produce Patterns and Cores for Various Applications, presented by John Thiell of Beehive Industries.


John was


followed by Pete Silverstein of Paramelt, who presented an in-depth view of Wax Fundamentals. Our third speaker was Kevin Day of Cannon-Muskegon. Kevin presented an Introduction Airmelt/Vacuum Alloy and the Cannon- Muskegon Process. Our final presenter, was Bob Johnson of Shellcast. Bob presented a paper on Being Small but Thinking Big at Shellcast, Inc. After a brief lunch break, we split


into groups of three to tour Shellcast, Cannon-Muskegon and Paramelt.


was in Group A, we began our tour at Shellcast, with Bob Johnson.


I Despite,


the foundries power being restored at 8:30 am, Bob was able to share with us a “live” pour. Bob called his foundry from the meeting and requested “all hands-on deck” to give us an experience that was both amazing and beautiful. Next on our tour, we went to Cannon-Muskegon.


There, Mike


Nousain split our group in half to facilitate the learning experience. Cannon-Muskegon


produces vacuum melt nickel and cobalt-base alloys for


The ICI hopes to offer three Regional Meeting next year. contact Barbara


Please Tiseo, btiseo@


invesementcasting.org, if you would like to host a meeting, offer a facility tour or sponsor. The event was a huge success and I must admit, it amazes me that as much as I believe I know about our industry, there is always something new to learn. These meetings, and our other events throughout the year, provides us all with the opportunity to broaden our IC knowledge.


equiaxed, directionally-solidified, and single crystal applications, as well as air melt cobalt alloys. We were able to tour their facility and learned a lot about their processes.


Our last stop of the day was at


Paramelt a leader in waxes, adhesives, and coatings. Mark Post of Paramelt gave us a history of the company. We learned that Paramelt is involved in many different industries from packaging to cosmetics and of course, investment casting. Each facility went out of their way to make certain that we had an educational experience.


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