“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

This old proverb is a rallying cry for those involved in outreach efforts.

From the metalcasters demonstrating the casting process to middle and high school students to our industry representatives meeting with government officials and regulators to those of you educating casting buyers and designers about the opportunities to utilize metal castings, these outreach efforts require resilience and repetition.

Outreach includes the branding and message we deliver. Outreach is the one-on-one communication and interaction with our audience. Outreach is the effort and time that can be devoted to it. The struggle with outreach is that success can be difficult to quantify, and it can take years to occur. But the future success of our industry rests on our continued ability to reach out to the next generation, current and prospective employees, current and potential customers, our legislators and regulators, and general society as a whole.

This issue of Modern Casting examines various forms of outreach through several feature articles to provide you some food for thought on new avenues to try.

On p. 24, outreach as it relates to the next generation of talent for metalcasting is detailed in the feature, “Attracting the Next Generation.”

“Be a mentor who wants to work with youth. Consider this an investment in your future workforce and in promoting your company to your community. Keep it real, and keep it fun.”– Dan Hoefert, Eck Industries.

On p. 28, outreach as it relates to regulatory success for a group of Michigan metalcasters is outlined in the feature, “Anatomy of Regulatory Success.”

“While the risk assessment was the centerpiece of this success story…the relationships cultivated over many years were paramount to being heard. The Michigan metalcasting industry was organized, but the years of leg work prior to taking on the challenge provided a solid foundation for eventual success.”

On p. 32, outreach to current employees is discussed in the feature, “Building a Winning Team.”

“The job of management is to make our employees want to stay. We want it to be easy to commit to Brillion long-term, because we’re committed to them.”—Reed Ott, Brillion Iron Works

I applaud the metalcasters profiled in this issue for their efforts. They are the definition of the proverb that began this editorial.