Sumitomo Corp. (Tokyo) has entered an agreement to invest in AFS Corporate Member Kimura Foundry America (KFA) and will hold a 35% interest in the Schaumburg, IL-based manufacturer of prototype casting using 3D printing technology.
Articles: Industry News
As part of an extensive capital improvement of its foundry, AFS Corporate member Adalet, a Scott-Fetzer Company (Cleveland, Ohio) installed a new automatic DISA Matchplate (LaGrange, Georgia) 24/28 molding machine this spring, the latest generation of DISAs and the first of this size in the U.S. In addition, the company added a complete automated mold handling system custom-built by Summit Foundry Equipment (Fort Wayne, Indiana).
The Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) has moved to the University of California, Irvine (UCI) from its 30-year home base at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Massachusetts. A research arm for the metalcasting industry, ACRC complements the work of AFS by (1) educating and reproducing new leaders and (2) acting as a source of knowledge creation to benefit the entire industry.
AFS Corporate Member Franklin Bronze Precision Components (Franklin, Pennsylvania) has upgraded its shell room with new robotic technologies––earlier this year, it upgraded the robotic arm and supervisory system in its Shell Room 2.
AFS Corporate Member Humtown Products (Columbiana, Ohio), which serves the metalcasting industry with conventional and 3D printed sand cores and molds, has won two Manufacturing Leadership Awards from the National Association of Manufacturers: (1) in the Engineering and Production Technology Leadership category and (2) in the Talent Management Leadership category.
The U.S. Department of Energy has given its 2020 Better Project award to Waupaca, Wisconsin-based Waupaca Foundry, an AFS Corporate Member, as part of the agency’s Better Plants program that recognizes manufacturers for creating and implementing industrial energy and water efficiency projects, as well as renewable energy and energy resiliency projects.
AFS Corporate Member AB&I Foundry (Oakland, California), which makes cast iron pipe and fittings for the plumbing industry, received positive news from California Air Resources Board (CARB) report July 10. Detailing the agency’s sampling and testing procedures of emissions created from AB&I's casting process, the report confirms AB&I's efforts to reduce emissions are working.
Barron Industries (Oxford, Michigan) a global manufacturer of engineered metal components, is now certified for welding by the National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program (NADCAP). Barron performs welding in conformance with the ASME Section IX of the Boiler Code, AWS D17.1, as well as requirements for Ballistic Steel Welding.
Midwest Pattern (Minnesota City, Minnesota), has acquired Adolf’s Pattern Shop, Inc., Portland, Oregon, and has relocated the 50-year-old company in entirety to Minnesota. Journeyman patternmaker Adolf Volkmann founded his company with his wife, Leonor, an accountant, in 1969. His career path began in Berlin in the late 1940s, and he immigrated to North America in 1959.
AFS Corporate Member The C.A. Lawton Co. (Lawton) (DePere, Wisconsin), owned by private equity firm Oakland Standard Co., has acquired Midwest Manufacturing & Logistics (Midwest) (Minster, Ohio) from Nidec Minster Corp. (Nidec). The Ohio iron foundry will operate as a second location of Lawton.