Does this finally lend credence to the many years of complaints from North American metalcasters saying the exact same thing?
Let’s be honest. When a casting is made, several fixed costs don’t change no matter where in the world the part is made: metal prices, energy costs, shipping. The biggest variable is human costs. When you compare the cost of labor between China and North America, the difference is obvious. But comparing India to China? Add the cost of shipping, and you should have a wash. Apparently not, according to Jha.
Even with the lower labor costs, something is missing. What if we un-pegged the Yuan from the dollar? Then, China’s ongoing program of deflating its currency to ensure its exports remain competitive might make the economic water level rise—globally. That would be interesting.
There’s been no shortage of media coverage of the earthquake that recently rocked Haiti. And as touching and heart wrenching as much of it is, it can become a little repetitive and go unnoticed.
But when the news involves metalcasting, our attentions are always aroused.
Apparently, the metalcasting process recently helped Alfred Univ., Alfred, N.Y., earn more than $5,000 for the Haitian relief effort. According to an article in the school’s newspaper, the Alfred Univ. Foundry Guild sold $10 sand molds to locals, allowed them to scratch designs into the molds and poured them off, producing original sculptures for all of the would-be philanthropists. The funds, augmented by a silent auction of artwork, were donated to a Haitian family with ties to the school and Doctors Without Borders.
It may seem incongruous, metalcasting for charity, but to us it makes perfect sense. The industry that has been rebuilding things for hundreds of years—taking what has been scrapped and reforming it into something useful—is now helping to rebuild a nation.
When our sister publication ECS (now Metal Casting Design & Puchasing) waxed melodically about the metal castings found in musical instruments in 2007, it hit the cymbals, drums, piano and hand bells. Now, castings are adding a decorative touch to the most ubiquitous of instruments—the guitar.
DBZ Guitars, Chicago, is using jewelry-style castings to adorn a new line of its handmade axes. You can see the intricate inlays and read more about the company’s guitars in an article on www.guitargearheads.com.
The article reports that the castings are produced in the hand casting process, which uses permanent molds to produce products with enhanced surface finishes. According to the article, the casting “is designed in high detail and finished in 24k gold and nickel.”
A small Michigan metalcasting operation, Acra Cast, was sued in 2006 by a neighbor claiming contaminants from the facility damaged his five cars, carpet and siding of his house. This was the man’s 24th lawsuit in the county. Acra Cast, which had a clean environmental record with no complaints until then, fought the suit and eventually won. But the cost to defend the business was close to $20,000, a substantial amount for the 15-employee shop.
Acra Cast’s story is the subject of a new video produced by the U.S. Chamber Institute of Legal Reform as part of its Faces of Lawsuit Abuse campaign.
Many similar lawsuits are settled before they make it to court. Acra Cast stood its ground—defending its name and the jobs of its 15 employees. Unfortunately, even in the win the company was penalized. Richard Singer, one of the owners of the company, said, “We spent close to $20,000 defending ourselves during a time when we should have been using the money to buy new equipment and improving our facilities.”
The video is being shown as a movie trailer in Albany, N.Y. and can be viewed online with other similar stories at www.facesoflawsuitabuse.com.
Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) coasted into office a few years ago when his father essentially passed his seat down to him, but the legislator isn’t coasting these days; he’s driving a bill that could mean good things for the metalcasting industry.
A classic Chicago democrat and reported ally of President Obama, Lipinski introduced a bill last week that he says would strengthen the Buy American Act of 1933.
“While maintaining exceptions for cases when domestic alternatives do not exist or are excessively costly, this legislation will eliminate gaping loopholes and add rigorous disclosure requirements to prevent the unnecessary purchase of foreign goods,” Lipinski wrote in an article that appeared on TheHill.com.
The bill is aimed at making those pesky waivers to buy foreign products (read Alfred Spada’s discussion of them in the editorial “Buy Foreign Because It’s Easier”) more difficult for contractors to receive and more public by posting the requests online.
Not only could this bill potentially bring more business to American metalcasters, but it seems that the plight of the metalcasting industry may have even been on Lipinski’s mind when he helped create the new legislation.
“We can’t afford to repeat the errors made with the stimulus bill, which has helped Chinese companies to build turbines for a wind-farm in Texas and paid for Canadian man-hole covers while American foundries lay off workers,” Lipinski wrote.
Gray cast iron is beautiful. Don’t agree with us? Take a look at an image by McMaster University research technologist Doug Culley. Culley used a Nikon Eclipse LV 100 microscope to show students the microstructure of gray cast iron and teach them how to identify the pearlite structure orientation and the color contrast for the different grains.
The resulting image was so unique and artistic, Culley submitted it to Nikon’s 2009 Small World Photomicrography Competition (www.nikonsmallworld.com) and earned image of distinction honors.
We just received a phone call, a phone call like so many others we field during the course of our monthly publishing cycle. A gentleman from Sawbrook Steel Castings Co. LLP, Cincinnati, was at the other end of the line. He wanted to know how he could publish a report of his company’s recent ISO recertification. Unbeknownst to him, he had already done everything he needed to do to get some free ink on his certification.
That’s right: if you want to see your company’s name in print with your recent certification next to it, all you have to do is call the editor at your friendly neighborhood metalcasting trade magazine. That’s it. As long as the certification can be confirmed with the certifying body (read: just tell the truth), you’re in.
So give MODERN CASTING (or any other trade publication, for that matter) a call today and tell us about your certification. We’ll print it up.
As you can see, the inscription below this sculpture, found in the Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., indicates you’re looking at a cast version of a hibernating ground squirrel.
In the museum, the casting is used for its ability to reach cold temperatures. The sculpture is tucked inside a nook that is refrigerated to mimic the sort of environment a ground squirrel is capable of withstanding while hibernating for the winter. Visitors to the museum are invited to reach into the nook and touch the casting to see just how cold the environment is.
What struck us as amusing was that the museum curators felt the need to announce in the inscription that the ground squirrel was cast. Apparently, this piece was so detailed and lifelike they had to ensure everyone that the exhibit was indeed not a live ground squirrel in order to get them to reach out and touch it. Now that’s precise casting.
Incredible, huh? Never thought you’d see the day, did you?
And for every person who is amazed by this news, we’ll bet there are two people who think it’s not a good idea. “Waste of time,” those people will say. Well let us tell you why it’s a great idea.
Besides the obvious benefits of getting the story of your business out there in the public record, writing a blog is a dynamite way to increase your website traffic. When Joe Public goes to Google and types in “castings,” he will get a number of returns. How does Google decide which websites to offer? For one thing, it likes websites that are rich with keywords and updated regularly. A blog gives your site both of those things.
The blogger is Bremen Castings, and the entries date back to March 18 of this year. The company may or may not be seeing returns on that investment of time and effort just yet (improving your search engine popularity is a gradual process), but we’re willing to bet it will pay off in the long run.
For more information on how to improve your website traffic, check out this article in MODERN CASTING, then sit down and get to work. You’ve got a blog to start.
Ah, metalcasting. Tis like a relaxing picnic on a warm fall day.
Now that’s probably not a statement you ever expected to read. But the Sculpture Trails, Solsberry, Ind., can make it a reality. Don’t believe us? Check out this video and tell us you don’t feel a sense of tranquility you never thought possible in the metalcasting industry.
To paraphrase a recent press release, Sculpture Trails offers to bring its “traveling foundry” to whatever setting you desire. The company will “travel to your high school, art museum, general public workshop or festivals” and give all participants a small block of sand and the tools they need to scratch a design into the cured surface. Next, Sculpture Trails pours aluminum into the block, and voila, the “artist’s” design comes out as a metal casting.
Not only is this a pretty cute idea, it reminds us that the process we all take for granted can be sold to the masses as a fun craft, a clever way to create, and even a relaxing day in the sun.
