AFS Corporate Member Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Co. (Charlotte, North Carolina) purchased AFS Corporate Member Neenah Enterprises, Inc., (Neenah, Wisconsin) effective July 13. Neenah’s plants in Medley, Florida, Neenah, Wisconsin, and Lincoln, Nebraska, manufacture construction and industrial castings. Neenah has been operating in the construction castings industry for 150 years.
Articles: Industry News
AFS Corporate Member Craft Pattern & Mold, a manufacturer of prototype machined castings in Montrose, Minnesota, has installed the second-largest 5-axis machining center made by Haas. The UMC1250 has a 50-in. work envelope, expanding the company’s ability to prototype large, tight-tolerance castings with a single workholding setup, which translates into cost and time savings for customers.
Through its Foseco brand, Vesuvius is investing in manufacturing and engineering initiatives throughout North America that: reduce customer lead time, deliver continued product innovation, and offer sustainable consumables and solutions for customers to reduce their environmental footprint.
06.29.22: Linamar’s new ‘MedTech’ group to focus on medical devices and precision medical components
Ontario-based Linamar Corp. has formed a new medical manufacturing group, MedTech, which will focus on leveraging its expert capabilities in precision manufacturing to pursue opportunities in the medical device and precision medical component markets.
Ferroglobe PLC, a producer of silicon metal, silicon-based alloys, and manganese-based specialty alloys, announced a memorandum of understanding (MO”) with REC Silicon in which Ferroglobe commits to leverage its asset platform in the U.S. to supply high purity silicon metal to REC Silicon aimed at jointly establishing a low-carbon and fully traceable U.S.-based solar supply chain.
Kimura Foundry America, Inc. (KFA) (Shelbyville, Indiana) announced it has installed a new, 440-lb. aluminum melting furnace and has started aluminum casting. The company has been producing iron and steel castings using 3D sand printers with artificial sand since it was established in November 2018.
Shinhwa Auto USA Corp. is adding a second auto parts manufacturing facility in Auburn, Alabama, as part of a $78 million growth project that will create 42 jobs over the next three years. The company will build a new 400,000-square-foot factory across from its existing location in Auburn Technology Park West.
05.23.22: Volvo purchases two megacasting cells
The Swedish premium car brand Volvo Cars has purchased two Carat 840 die-casting cells for its factory in Torslanda, Sweden. The Carat 840, along with Carat 920, Bühler’s largest die-casting solutions, were launched in 2021.
In October 2021, Bühler launched the Carat 840 and the Carat 920 with locking forces of up to 92,000 kilonewtons (kN). With these machines, Volvo can produce structural castings for automotive body in white assemblies, known as megacastings.
Sure Cast Foundry Inc., an AFS Corporate Member in Blaine, Minnesota, has relocated into its newly constructed 19,000-s.f.-facility across the street from its former plant. The additional 5,000 s.f. provides storage and office space not previously available to staff and includes a conference room for hosting customers. Designed with the future in mind, the new facility is ready for further expansion of 10,000 s.f. off a rear wall––the foundry’s goal is to vertically integrate with its own machine shop in the near term.
Ancient Celtic history was brought into the present at AFS’s 2022 CastExpo in Columbus, Ohio, during the Steel Founders Society of America (SFSA) annual Cast in Steel competition––this year’s challenge: to use modern casting tools and technologies to creatively design and produce a functioning version of a Celtic Leaf Sword. Following a day of rigorous testing by judges on April 22––performed in front of a large audience––University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Pioneers team emerged as the Grand Prize Winner and was honored at a ceremony on April 24.