Articles: Industry News

CaneKast and its companies Ermak Foundry & Machining, Patriot Foundry & Castings and RDS Dock Hardware have acquired Superior Aluminum Castings of Independence, Missouri.

“Four years ago we started acquiring nonferrous foundries because we believe in local manufacturing," said Reg Zeller, CaneKast CEO and owner. "We are building a network of facilities that will provide the benefits of a small business yet have state-of-the-art technology typically only found in large conglomerates. Superior is a great fit to help us achieve this vision.”

AFS is issuing a call for papers and presentations for the 126^th Metalcasting Congress/CastExpo 2022, April 23-26, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio.

AFS Corporate Member Dotson Iron Castings (Mankato, Minnesota) has donated the company’s archives of historically important documents and photographs to the Southern Minnesota Historical Center at Minnesota State University, according to the Mankato Free Press. 

MSU President Richard Davenport said the archives, representing the largest single donation to the center in the past 20 years, will be a valuable asset for current and future students and scholars.

Rolls-Royce has reached an agreement with Fincantieri Marinette Marine to design and manufacture up to 40 fixed-pitch propellers for the U.S. Navy’s Constellation-class (FFG-62) guided missile frigate program. 

Fincantieri was awarded the shipbuilding contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in April 2020 to design and build the first FFG-62 class frigate. The program of record is for a total of 20 ships, with the first to be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2026.

AFS Corporate Member Metal Technologies (Auburn, Indiana) has acquired AAASE’s Mexico machining operations in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, which will do business as Metal Technologies Maquinados de SLP (MTMS)––the existing management team remains in place going forward. 

AFS Corporate Member Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry (WAF) (Manitowoc, Wisconsin) has purchased Wabash Castings in Wabash, Indiana.

“We are excited to grow our operations and expand on the success of Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry,” WAF CEO Sachin Shivaram said in a news release. “Wabash Castings is renowned for their ability to produce high volume, complex castings. Their facility forms a perfect complement to our existing breadth of production lines. This acquisition will accelerate our growth in the electric vehicle and consumer goods markets, among other exciting opportunities.”

To support their goal of manufacturing quality parts, Toyota Industries Corp. and Siemens have cooperated to develop artificial intelligence (AI) that can predict product abnormalities in aluminum diecasting. It improves quality and productivity by using the AI application in Industrial Edge, the Siemens edge computing platform for industry. 

The initiative is an example of digital transformation in manufacturing, and Toyota Industries Corp. aims to use it to further evolve their technology and incorporate it into their production plants in Japan and overseas. 

IBC Advanced Alloys Corp. (Franklin, Indiana) a beryllium and copper advanced alloys company, has received purchase orders for beryllium alloy parts totaling more than $1 million that are used in Raytheon Technologies‘ Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) system for the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft.

Gränges, a Swedish aluminum supplier of rolled aluminum products for heat exchanger applications, specialty packaging and niche markets, says it will invest $33 million to expand its aluminum continuous casting operations in Huntingdon, Tennessee, to meet growing demand from North American customers. The expansion includes investment in buildings and a new casting line. When completed, the casting capacity in Huntingdon will increase by about 25,000 tons per year and will enable higher capacity utilization in the downstream rolling and slitting operations.

Madison-Kipp Corp. (MKC) (Madison, Wisconsin) has acquired the assets of a Richmond, Indiana, diecasting facility, which the company says expands its geographic footprint and allows it to better serve its customers. The transaction is part of a program to enhance MKC’s manufacturing capabilities; combined with the recent addition of seasoned leaders in engineering and manufacturing, MKC says it has the capacity to remain a highly reliable and technically sophisticated supplier of complex parts to new and current customers.