What does perfection in the foundry business look like? For Jason Oldenski, it’s automating and embracing technology to the fullest extent. Maybe that will mean lights-out operations sometime in the distant future, says the general manager of AFS Corporate Member Harmony Castings, a career manufacturing leader who made his entry into metalcasting when he joined the business in 2020. For the here and now, he says, chasing perfection is a worthwhile pursuit. 

“What I want is when perfection looks over its shoulder, it sees us hot on its heels,” he said.

Over the past two-and-a-half years, he has driven a focused, multi-front modernization of the 46-year-old aluminum foundry in Harmony, Pennsylvania, that produces vacuum-molded castings in an unusual process known as the V-process. From adoption of robotics, IoT, and 3D printed cores to plant expansion and upgraded quality technology––plus 2025 exploratory projects in cybersecurity certification, AI, and automated guided vehicles (AGVs)––Harmony has moved swiftly to streamline workflow, minimize downtime, and create a better environment for people, all the while ensuring strong returns and growing revenue for its owner, Ligon Industries.

For its methodical and continuous dedication to becoming more modern every year, Harmony Castings has been named Modern Casting magazine’s Metalcaster of the Year. The foundry calls its ongoing initiative “Harmony 4.0.”
“There are so many potential applications, so we’re focused on the ROI. We don’t want technology for the sake of technology. We love technology because there’s a payback; we see that it will pay for itself and really help improve our foundry safety, ergonomics, and efficiency. We have to be cognizant of the money we spend and be wise stewards of that investment. We’re not going to be chasing the shiny object. We want to be world class, but not necessarily the first-adopters. We want to be wise.”

A mid-sized job shop that employs 74 people, Harmony Castings pours about 1.2 million lbs. of A 356 per year, makes over 30,000 molds annually, and specializes in low- to medium-volume jobs. The foundry has invested several million dollars since the second half of 2023, executing on a plan that, in part, concentrated on its cleaning department. A key benefit: The company is less dependent on skilled labor and at the same time creates a more attractive workplace for both tenured and new employees. 

Removing the Daily Grind

Oldenski says the foundry was ripe with opportunity for modern technology. Although it’s had robotic metal-pouring for 12 years, many tasks still relied on brute, manual labor, he said. The safety and well-being of employees was of utmost concern, and then, in the aftermath of the pandemic, the shortage of people coming into the industry raised Harmony’s need for automation to a boiling point. A solution began to take form by integrating four new robots for material removal, grinding, and finishing cells. Oldenski describes the results as dramatic.

“Two-and-a-half years ago, we had lots of hand grinding stations throughout the plant,” he said. “We were in the post-pandemic surge trying to hire people left and right, and yet you’ve got to wait nine months before they’re a fully-efficient operator contributing positively to the bottom line. That wasn’t good enough. We needed to be more nimble. But the reality today is, people are less inclined to go work in a foundry. So how do we make this career more attractive to people?”

“No. 1, we need to be a little less dependent on that kind of skilled labor. Don’t get me wrong—we need people. With all of this automation we added, we didn’t lose anybody. I don’t want to use people for their red muscle. I want to use them for their gray matter––their brains! I don’t want them to wear their bodies out working in the foundry, so I want to create a better environment, and that’s what automation allows us to do. It’s also allowed us to shorten that nine-month training cycle. With these robotic stations, we have created a new class of worker––we can bring in a new employee who can begin to add value in a very short period of time. Once they’ve completed their safety training, we can have a new person trained on a robot and running parts almost the same day. It’s that easy.”

By adding the four cells, Harmony went from 17 manual grinding benches consuming 4,000 sq. ft. to six benches in a quarter of the space. Rounding out its robotic investment, Harmony also installed a robotic cut-off cell in the fall of 2024, which has brought its use of a bandsaw to a minimum. Consisting of a large circular saw attached to a robot, the technology handles gating and riser removal so accurately that it minimizes the amount of post-processing required further downstream.  

As parts leave cleaning and finishing, they head directly into the new digital X-ray area. The foundry demolished a 30-year-old film X-ray room and can now relocate the quality assurance office closer to production. That department has recently upgraded its tensile tester and spectrometer, and added a thermoanalyzer. The foundry is building its ROI case for a new, non-contact CMM robotic scanning cell and plans to position it adjacent to the production floor, as well. Currently, the foundry dedicates one person for a full shift to the manual task of scanning with a manual Fano device.

Last year, Harmony completed a 5,500-sq.-ft. addition that accommodates the boom in core demand they’ve experienced for a few years. Now totaling 35,000 sq. ft., the foundry has ample floor space to accommodate that volume, as well as room to store patterns and molds, which in the V-process, have limitless life. The company was also able to consolidate its maintenance department, which had gradually become dispersed around various places throughout the plant––high-value real estate that has been restored back to production. 

IoT for Predictive Maintenance

Maintenance, too, has benefitted from Harmony Casting’s modernization strategy. While robots were being ushered onboard, Internet of Things (IoT) technology was simultaneously harnessed. The foundry introduced predictive maintenance power with 51 active machine sensors throughout the plant, which monitor pressures, flows, temperatures, and vibration on various pieces of technology. Data and alerts are fed back to the maintenance crew in the form of dashboards, texts, and emails. Another 20 sensors are ready to be installed over the third quarter this year.
“IoT is basically a smart watch for the foundry,” said Oldenski. “Instead of, ‘How many steps did I get in?’ or ‘What’s my heart rate?’ it’s tracking the health of the plant. And the possibilities for this are pretty remarkable in the long-term vision. 

Rather than choosing an off-the-shelf system, the foundry opted to home-grow a custom, cloud-based solution by working directly with a manufacturer––this plan enables maintenance to harmonize IoT with some of the company’ 40-year-old equipment as well as new machinery coming into the operations. 

Adding to the benefit of reduced downtime, predictive maintenance sensors and software also provide readily-accessible, real-time data that enable the foundry to trace all the variables associated with casting production. This summer, an intern will help advance this progress by working on additional dashboards and data analysis.
“One of the goals is to be able to take a snapshot of the variables in the process at the time of the casting creation,” said Oldenski. “This allows us to better control the outcome and provide a better product. If we ever have issues, we have all the data in front of us to tell us what happened.”

Accelerate Everything

By sheer nature of the V-process, speed to market is part of Harmony’s DNA and one of its strongest value propositions in the marketplace. The company leverages 3D printing to complement their reputation. Internally, four 3D polymer printers are used to build fixtures, for example, which expedites getting more parts on robots. Meanwhile, the foundry outsources 3D printed cores, which enhances its ability to rapidly produce first articles. They’re also exploring how to incorporate 3D printed patterns to reduce lead time and cost this year. 

Harmony Castings also wants to speed up simulation. SOLIDCast users, the foundry is now investigating how adding computing technology can help achieve their goals for getting parts into production faster. Alongside the software front, cybersecurity is also top of mind, and Oldenski is targeting CMMC compliance certification by year-end. Defense work represents a notable percentage of Harmony Casting’s annual volume, which is one of the many drivers for moving toward a tighter cyber ship. 

Nothing says speed like AI, and Oldenski says the foundry won’t be left behind. It has formed a multidisciplinary team to research and experiment with AI and determine appropriate applications for daily work. This could range from preparing reports and presentations to writing code for robotic programming.

“I’ve got a few folks going to conferences and training sessions to learn about AI and try to understand how this is going to work for us,” he said.

“I kicked it off with the team like this: ‘Hey, if you could get 15 minutes of your week back, would you take it and do something of higher value with that time? Or what if you could take a 30-minute task and turn it into a five-minute task––and still sleep well at night knowing you didn’t do anything wrong! It is simply an extension of a manufacturing efficiency mindset applied in a new way.”

The final piece in Harmony’s 2025 move toward modernization will be shopping and then onboarding automated guided vehicles (AGVs) for potentially efficient transport of core pallets from the newly-built addition to the mold line.

Trust-Building Technology 

Oldenski says building transformational relationships with customers is a top mission at Harmony Castings. Little things matter, he adds, such as delivering first articles in person whenever feasible and sending personal thank-you notes and gifts along with a photo of the foundry team. 

But big things matter, too. And what the foundry does to keep customers in the loop while their casting project moves through production is huge. In 2024, Harmony Castings implemented a web-based, real-time project management software program that provides transparent visibility to the customer. 

“We know people are going to call or email; we know the questions are going to be asked,” said Oldenski. “So why not get in front of it and put the information out there for them? We all live in this world of Amazon, where, if our stuff doesn’t show up in two days, we’re upset. And we can go online and track everything, right? Well, why not adopt that mentality in the foundry?  

Every new casting order is assigned a project plan that is shared with the customer through the online system, which also enables triggers and email alerts when something has been updated, he added. Even additional services provided outside of the foundry––such as painting, anodizing, or machining––can be folded into the system and shared with those subcontractors, who can also input their updates.  

“It allows you to paint the whole picture for everybody,” Oldenski said. “In some regards, you’re kind of exposing yourself, but we embrace that accountability. We want to live up to our word.”