Articles: Industry News

Metals recycler MetalX LLC has selected a 190-acre site in Defiance, Ohio, for its previously announced aluminum recycling campus. Initial development plans include an aluminum rolling slab manufacturing plant, a scrap shredding and advanced sortation facility, and a dedicated logistics hub.

A year ago in February, HWI and Calderys united under single ownership and became the Calderys Group. The new Group immediately began a program to share technologies, transferring a selection of Calderys solutions in the Americas to HWI.

AFS Corporate Member Le Sueur Inc. (LSI), a supplier of complex aluminum castings, machined castings, and plastic injection molded components, has completed the acquisition of Craft Pattern and Mold (Craft).

Capstreet, a Houston-based lower middle market private equity firm, has acquired Analytic Stress Relieving Inc. (ASR), a provider of on-site heat-treating services. 

AFS Corporate Member ASK Chemicals, Hilden, Germany, has achieved a significant reduction in waste and resource by utilizing production side streams as a raw material source to develop new product formulations.

Bodycote, a UK-based heat treatment and thermal processes company, has acquired Lake City Heat Treating in Warsaw, Indiana, a medical market provider of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and vacuum heat treatment services, primarily supplying the orthopedic implant market as well as civil aerospace.

Lake City Heat Treating is forecast to have achieved 2023 full year revenues of about $14 million. The business revenue grew 30% in 2023 and looking ahead is expected to continue to deliver good progress.

Wabash Castings Inc., Wabash, Indiana, has installed a new, $1.5 million JOEST Complete Shaker System that will improve operations and reduce landfill waste. The new shaker system allows the aluminum casting manufacturer to reclaim and reuse approximately 500 tons of sand per month, removing it from the landfill stream.

AFS Corporate Member Aalberts surface technologies, a global provider of specialized thermal processing, surface treatment, and material coating solutions, has made investments in its Canton, Ohio facility to add austempering capabilities that will provide a logistically favorable option to customers located in the Midwest, Eastern, and Northeastern U.S. markets. To balance the capacity available in the market with demand, the company will be closing its plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

November 2023 marked the launch of three innovative projects spearheaded by the American Foundry Society as part of the American Metalcasting Consortium’s Emergent MetalCasting Solutions (EMCS) Program. These initiatives showcase AFS's commitment to advancing the metalcasting industry through collaborative research and development.

Do you know a young metalcaster in the making? The Casting Dreams Competition created by SFSA is for them.

Young people ages 14–18 are invited to submit their "dream castings" for this exciting contest. Castings will be showcased at AFS’s Metalcasting Congress 2024 in Milwaukee, with national recognition and a $300 award going to the grand prize winner.