The U.S. metalcasting industry continues to click along at a steady pace, and I see the evidence of this period of strong casting sales in the press releases that come across my desk and in the foundries I have visited the past 12 months. Most recently, I visited Seneca Foundry in Iowa, which is on page 18 of this issue. Like the industry as a whole, Seneca Foundry is experiencing a time of very strong sales and they are using it to reinvest in their facility to meet new opportunities and ensure their future moving forward. 

According to the AFS 2023 Metalcasting Forecast and Trends Midyear Report published last month, AFS is projecting a 6.6% increase in casting sales for the year, up from a 4.3% estimate in January. The final evaluation of 2022 revenue indicates a 12.5% increase year over year, which is the  second consecutive year of double digit growth.

A piece of that growth is from reshoring and foreign direct investment, which according to Reshoring Initiative, continues to outpace recent record highs. In the first quarter of 2023, 101,500 reshored and FDI jobs were announced. At this rate, by year-end the cumulative number of manufacturing jobs brought back since 2010 will be 2 million, which Harry Moser, president of Reshoring Initiative, says is about 40% of what the U.S. lost to offshoring.

According to Moser, four broad industries account for over 90% of jobs announced. They are electrical equipment, computer and electronics, transportation equipment, and chemicals.

What’s interesting to me is the factors that are driving this extended surge in rebuilding domestic manufacturing. Table 1 and 2 show the top factors companies are reporting as reasons to reshore and the factors that are gaining momentum. 

For metalcasters riding this wave, reinvesting will be critical to match the growing demand for domestic manufacturing.