Modern Casting articles from July 2008

Modern Casting archives from July 2008

Worth repeating.(HOTLINE)
July 1, 2008... "There are some inefficiencies involved in being a job shop, but you have to overcome those."--Larry Bredengerd, American Aerospace Technical Castings

Question of the month.(HOTLINE)
July 1, 2008... The April website question asked: What percentage of your casting orders is part of a long-term supply contract (more than one year)? 0-25% 39.2% 76-100% 27.5% 51-75% 25.5% 26-50% 7.8% This month's...

A moment of clarity.(EDITORIAL)
July 1, 2008... Sometimes, we just need a few rays of sunshine to brighten our days. I was reviewing our article, "American Aerospace Catches Fire" (p. 16) and thinking that many metalcasters come to a crossroads similar to the one faced by this...

Teksid plans investments totaling $138 million.(Around the World)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Automotive casting supplier Teksid do Brasil, Minas Gerais, Brazil, recently announced it will invest $108 million over the next two years to improve its existing iron metalcasting facility and plans to spend $30...

Castech Metallurgy wins turbine hub contract.(North America)
July 1, 2008... Ferrous metalcaster Castech Metallurgy Inc., Thetford Mines, Quebec, Canada, recently won a five-year contract to cast hubs for wind turbine manufacturer AAER Inc., Bromont, Quebec, Canada. The agreement represents an order of 320 hubs...

Meridian restructures with $55 million financing.(North America)
July 1, 2008... Magnesium diecaster Meridian Technologies Inc., Strathroy, Ontario, Canada, has reached a restructuring agreement with its lenders that will reorganize the company as Meridian Lightweight Technologies with a recapitalized balance sheet and...

Russian casting depends heavily on machinery production.(Around the World)
July 1, 2008... Metalcasting in Russia provides the main production basis for the machinery industry, so its advancement depends directly on that industry. The main targets for development of Russian machinery production are design and production of...

Intermet Monroe City installs diecasting machine.(North America)
July 1, 2008... Intermet Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, has installed a new zinc diecasting machine at its Monroe City, Mo., plant. The company expects the new machine, which will initially produce components for steering mechanisms, to speed die changes and...

Ashland, Sud-Chemie combine global metalcasting business operations.(Around the World)
July 1, 2008... Ashland Inc., Covington, Ky., and Sud-Chemie AG, Munich, Germany, have agreed to form a global joint venture to serve the metalcasting industry. The companies signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding in mid-June to create the...

Huron Casting to build plant.(North America)
July 1, 2008... Huron Casting Inc., Pigeon, Mich., plans to build a multi-million dollar metalcasting plant known as Blue Diamond Steel Casting in the "thumb" area of Michigan, according to local news reports. ABC's Huron County affiliate reported the...

Climate change is a naturally occurring process.(Letterbox)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... First it was "global warming," but when that didn't fly, it morphed into "climate change," which is a pretty safe bet to occur because earth's climate is always changing and always will, irrespective of what humans do. Using data from the...

Metalcasters may be letting the phone ring.(Letterbox)(Letter to the editor)
July 1, 2008... The May editorial ("Wake Up and Pay Attention") offered a great challenge to metalcasters, and I would like to say a few words concerning some of the U.S. metalcasting attitudes that my company experiences. Several of our domestic...

Eck Industries.(Newscast)
July 1, 2008... Eck Industries, Manitowoc, Wis., has purchased a non-exclusive license for the Cast-Decant-Cast (CDC) Process from NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at Univ. College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. According to a release issued by...

Intermet Corp.(Newscast)
July 1, 2008... Intermet Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, has won two supplier awards from the Akebono Brake Corp., Elizabethtown, Ky. Intermet was given the Delivery and Quality Awards for its performance during 2007.

Consolidated Engineering Company.(Newscast)
July 1, 2008... A manufacturer of business-jet aircraft has contracted with Consolidated Engineering Company, Kennesaw, Ga., to design and manufacture a quench furnace system for its new heat treat facility in Mexico. The system will be used to heat treat a...

Metalcasting industry suppliers UES Inc. and FOPAT LLC, both of Dayton, Ohio, recently were among eight companies to receive part of $2.7 million in grants through the Ohio Research Commercialization Grant Program.(Newscast)
July 1, 2008... Metalcasting industry suppliers UES Inc. and FOPAT LLC, both of Dayton, Ohio, recently were among eight companies to receive part of $2.7 million in grants through the Ohio Research Commercialization Grant Program. UES was recommended for...

Wheelabrator Group.(Newscast)(Wheelabrator Group Inc.)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Wheelabrator Group, LaGrange, Ga., recently marked its first century with the first of a number of global 2008 celebrations at a day-long event at its headquarters for 150 local employees, company executives and civic leaders. In conjunction...

Quality certifications.(INDUSTRY NEWS)
July 1, 2008... The following metalcasting organization has passed a recent certification audit: Littlestown Foundry Inc., Littlestown, Pa., (ISO 9001:2000); Harrison Steel Casting, Attica, Ind., (ISO 9001:2000); Kent Foundry Co., Greenville,...

Corrections.(INDUSTRY NEWS)(Correction notice)
July 1, 2008... The May article "Metalcasting's Carbon Footprint" reported that the third installment in the series on climate change would appear in the July issue of MODERN CASTING. The article will in fact be published in the August issue. In the...

Calendar of events.(Brief article)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... July July 20-22--Casting Industry Suppliers Association Summer Meeting, Coeur d'Alene Golf & Spa Resort, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. July 31-August 1--AFS Marketing and Selling of Castings Conference, The Westin O'Hare, Rosemont, Ill. ...

Precision Castparts Corp.(Personals)
July 1, 2008... Shawn Hagel, current vice president of finance for Precision Castparts Corp., Portland, Ore., will succeed William Larsson as senior vice president and CFO of the company.

Foundry Business Unit.(Personals)
July 1, 2008... Lee Plutshack has been named president of the Foundry Business Unit for the combined businesses of Foseco plc, Staffordshire, U.K., and Vesuvius, Brussels, Belgium. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Obituaries.(Industry News)(Richard A. Green passed away)(B. Wayne Adkison passed away)(Obituary)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Richard A. Green, Rochester Hills, Mich., died June 8, 2008. He was 79. A member of the American Foundry Society (AFS) since 1948, Green won every major honor AFS bestows, including the AFS Service Citation in 1979, the CMI Trustees Award in...

A case for socialized health care: report advocates ending employer financing of health benefits.(WASHINGTON ALERT)
July 1, 2008... A new report by a non-profit public policy institute outlines one potential policy proposal. The New America Foundation's (NAF) "Employer Health Care Costs in a Global Economy: A Competitive Disadvantage for U.S. Firms" makes the case that...

Congress examining major expansion of the Clean Water Act.(On the Hill)
July 1, 2008... Pending legislation in Congress could create the greatest expansion of the Clean Water Act since it was signed into law in 1972. The bill, The Clean Water Restoration Act (H.R. 2421/S. 1870), would expand the federal role beyond protecting...

OSHA to inspect 3,800 high-hazard worksites.(On the Hill)
July 1, 2008... OSHA recently announced that it will carry out 3,800 unannounced high-hazard comprehensive safety inspections under its 2008 Site-Specific Targeting (SST) plan. The SST initially will cover worksites that reported 11 or more injuries/illnesses...

American Aerospace catches fire: when American Aerospace Technical Castings saw its past go up in smoke, a spark of hope kept it looking toward the future.(Cover story)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A flex hose vibrated unseen between the roof and the drop down ceiling at American Aerospace Technical Castings (AATC), Phoenix, Ariz. The hose. which was acting as a conduit between the power box and the air...

Iron: stronger with age.
July 1, 2008... Naturally aging cast iron increases its mechanical properties, including boosting ultimate tensile strength by between 3.3 and 13.5% in class 20, 30 and 35 irons. Early research also has indicated that it may be beneficial to iron's...

The waiting game: debate continues on a number of legislative issues that could affect the metalcasting industry, but until a new administration enters the White ?House, most are at a stalemate.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A group of metalcasters from Illinois met in the offices of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in April to state their case for currency reform and ask for support in ending unfair trade practices that make it difficult for...

Adding value through customer service: two metalcasters are taking customer service beyond the traditional receptionist in a headset.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most metalcasting facilities large and small know they can improve their operations by implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. If you track information about your products, you'll find ways to...

Anchors away: cast iron often is used in the manufacture of marine anchors, symbols of strength and stability.
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most of the cast iron walleye anchors offered as customer appreciation gifts by Dotson Iron Castings, Mankato. Minn., will never swim to the bottom of a river, lake or ocean. The metalcasting process through which...

Quantifying customer relationships.(NOVEL SOLUTIONS)
July 1, 2008... Fred Reichheld says your company is about to stop making money. Unless you start measuring success by more than just making money. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In The Ultimate Question, Reichheld urges business owners to rate their success...

Global M&A remains robust.(CAPITAL GAINS)(merger and acquisition)
July 1, 2008... Conventional wisdom suggests that when the economy is sputtering and businesses are struggling, then merger and acquisition (M&A) activity declines as well. Capital is conserved or reinvested rather than spent on acquisitive growth in an...

Casting answers & advice.
July 1, 2008... Q In our aluminum permanent mold shop, we have noticed tool steel molds, which we cut from H-13 billet and do not subsequently heat treat, require break-in time (similar to "seasoning" a cast iron skillet). We have had trouble holding x-ray...

AFS works to address scrap crisis by founding coalition.(AFS/CMI NEWS)
July 1, 2008... In an effort to begin to bring relief to metalcasters being hit hard by scrap prices, the American Foundry Society (AFS) has joined forces with the Steel Manufacturers Association and the National Precast Concrete Association to found the...

Metalcasting documentary now showing on PBS, YouTube.(AFS/CMI NEWS)
July 1, 2008... The documentary Spotlight On: Metalcasting is currently airing on PBS and is available for public viewing via YouTube. Sponsored by the American Foundry Society (AFS) and PBS, the documentary examines the metalcasting process and the positive...

Two metalcasters earn CMI General Foundry Certifications.(AFS/CMI NEWS)
July 1, 2008... David Cruz, Lufkin Industries, Inc., Lufkin, Texas, and Ryan Edge, Rochester Metal Products Corp., Rochester, Ind., recently were awarded General Foundry Technology Certifications from the Cast Metals Institute (CMI). One of four...

CMI course schedule.(AFS/CMI NEWS)(Brief article)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... CMI Course Schedule July 15-17 Introduction to Metalcasting Schaumburg, Ill. (03-09) July 28-Aug. 24 Ductile Iron Metallurgy Internet (04-09) July 29-31 ...

2008 transactions, heat stress publications now available.(AFS/CMI NEWS)
July 1, 2008... AFS has introduced two new publications, Establishing a Foundry Heat Stress Management Program, and the 2008 Transactions of the American Foundry Society, Vol. 116. Establishing a Foundry Heat Stress Management Program assists metalcasting...

Chapter meetings.(AFS/CMI NEWS)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... CENTRAL OHIO July 20--Change-Over Meeting, Eaglesticks Golf Course, Zanesville, Ohio. CHICAGO Aug. 22--Annual Golf Outing, Bloomingdale Golf Club, Bloomingdale, Ill. HAWKEYE Aug 22--Annual Golf Outing, Irv Warren Memorial Country...

New baghouse system boosts Acme's cupola efficiency.(New Product)
July 1, 2008... The cupola furnace baghouse at Acme Foundry, Coffeyville, Kan., needed replacement. It wasn't MACT compliant, and acid had eaten away at the 35-year-old structure, causing leaks and reducing its overall effectiveness. Tom Tatman, Acme...

New 3-D modeling method smooths casting simulation.(New Product)
July 1, 2008... NovaCast Foundry Solutions, Ronneby, Sweden, unveiled the newest version of its Nova Flow and Solid CV casting process modeling software at CastExpo'08 in May. The software, which was made available in June, combines two methods of modeling for...

Portable core racks.(METALCASTING SUPPLIES)(Palmer Manufacturing Company Inc. has introduced portable core storage racks )(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Palmer Manufacturing now offers portable core storage racks to protect and inventory cores. The heavy-duty racks have tip to seven tilting shelves and weigh 510 lbs. Each shelf can hold up to 250 lbs. for a total weight capacity of 2,000 lbs....

Adjustable shakeout.(METALCASTING SUPPLIES)(General Kinematics Corp.has introduced Vario-Drive )(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The Vario-Drive from General Kinematics offers adjustable shakeout retention with the touch of a button. It features long-lasting components and heavy duty construction for extended uptime and low maintenance operation. Controls easily adjust...

Reduced atmosphere test.(METALCASTING SUPPLIES)
July 1, 2008... Thermtronix' reduced atmosphere testing system (RATS) provides fast, accurate porosity tests at the melting furnace through repeatable determination of hydrogen gas content in aluminum alloys essential to consistent quality before the metal is...

Cross guard.(SHAKEOUT: In case you didn't know ...)(metal used in the production of the British Victoria Cross)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When the first samples of the new Canadian Victoria Cross were cast at the Materials Technology Laboratory of Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, not just any metal would do. The medal, which will...