The last operating blast furnace at Bethlehem Steel’s Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, plant went cold on November 18, 1995. That’s when the Lehigh Valley company shuttered the “hot end” of the plant. They transitioned to bringing in steel made at other locations to be rolled into beams, rather than the integrated process used in Bethlehem for over 100 years.
AFS Corporate Member TEMC Metal & Chemical Corp. (Taipei City, Taiwan) held a ceremony November 17 in Xizhou Chunghua, Taiwan, for the opening of its second plant and green foundry technology, an event attended by hundreds of foundry industry professionals, including Taiwan Foundry Society Chairman Lin-San Chen and Taiwan Casting Association Chairman Kuan-Chen Shiao.
The mayor of Changhua County also participated. A seminar on green foundry issues was held during the afternoon. TEMC is a supplier of metallurgical foundry industry consumables.
The Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF) is partnering with the Blue Ocean Student Pitch Competition––the alliance will help high school students interested in entrepreneurship learn more about metalcasting by creating an innovative pitch that focuses on foundry challenges in the 21st century.
The Naval Foundry and Propeller Center (NFPC) in Philadelphia, a detachment of Norfolk Naval Shipyard and an AFS Corporate Member, made the first casting for a Columbia-Class submarine late this summer, weighing 200,000 lbs. NFPC is a Department of Defense manufacturing facility that specializes in advanced engineering, castings and precision machining that supports the mission of the U.S. Navy.
AFS Corporate Member Waupaca Foundry, Inc. (Waupaca, Wisconsin), a Hitachi Metals group company, was awarded a 2020 Outstanding Supplier award from Cummins, Inc. The award recognizes suppliers that excelled in supplying parts to Cummins during the COVID-19 pandemic. It cites Waupaca Foundry for managing weekly production and parts delivery through proactive collaboration and communication, all while ensuring no line down or freight premium occurrences.
Holding to its mantra of continuous reinvestment in the business despite the uncertainties of 2020, AFS Corporate Member Craft Pattern & Mold (Montrose, Minnesota) took delivery of three new Haas machines that will expand its ability to handle large tooling and secondary machining of castings. The company manufactures prototypes for plastic and metal parts as well as production tooling for a wide range of commercial and industrial applications.
AFS Corporate Member Titan Robotics Ltd. announced in a November website statement it is entering a strategic collaboration with Jabil Inc. to accelerate the adoption of large-format, industrial additive manufacturing. Jabil Engineered Materials, a unit of Jabil, which develops polymer formulations and compounds at its ISO 9001 Materials Innovation Center, is working with Titan to qualify and integrate customized materials for use on Titan’s pellet-based Atlas 3D printers.
AFS Corporate Member Titan Robotics Ltd. announced in a November website statement it is entering a strategic collaboration with Jabil Inc. to accelerate the adoption of large-format, industrial additive manufacturing. Jabil Engineered Materials, a unit of Jabil, which develops polymer formulations and compounds at its ISO 9001 Materials Innovation Center, is working with Titan to qualify and integrate customized materials for use on Titan’s pellet-based Atlas 3D printers.
AFS Corporate Member Rio Tinto is introducing a new family of unique aluminum alloys designed to allow North American diecasters to increase their use of recycled content in the production of automotive parts. The new alloy series has been developed for high pressure vacuum diecasters to mix with their own scrap and recycled cleaned crushed wheels. As an alternative to buying lower grade secondary remelt ingots, the final blend will cost less, have a lower carbon footprint, and meet stringent industry standards.
Ares Commercial Finance has provided a $100 million senior secured credit facility to Pace Industries LLC, an entity owned by funds and accounts managed by TCW Asset Management Co. and by affiliated funds and accounts of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. Headquartered in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Pace Industries is one of North America’s largest high-pressure aluminum, magnesium and zinc diecasting companies serving over 400 OEMs/Tier 1 customers.