Industry News

On July 22, Bradford Muller, vice president of corporate communications at AFS Corporate Member Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, appeared before a House Judiciary Subcommittee on “Foreign Abuse of U.S. Courts.” The bipartisan hearing was chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa of California (R-48th). Muller provided testimony on trade fraud being committed by producers of cast iron soil pipe and fittings in China. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte Pipe and Foundry produces cast iron and plastic pipe and fittings for plumbing applications.

The sand 3D printing division of AFS Corporate Member ExOne GmbH has been acquired by Anzu Partners, a technology investor.  
Under the new ownership structure, the company will be dedicated exclusively to sand 3D printing excellence, with a global footprint. Anzu Partners has expressed a strong commitment to ensuring continuity across operational areas. 

The company says that with the acquisition, ExOne’s customers and suppliers can expect consistent service and continuous collaboration, with existing relations, agreements, and service standards upheld. 

AFS Corporate Member Clow Valve, a McWane Inc. company, held a ceremony August 22 to unveil its $80 million foundry expansion.
Oskaloosa Mayor Dave Krutzfeldt and representatives of the Greater Des Moines Partnership and Iowa Economic Development Authority were present to cut the ribbon on the 36,000-sq.-ft. addition. The project initially broke ground in 2023 with support from the state’s High Quality Jobs Program. The program assists qualifying businesses to offset some of the costs incurred to locate, expand or modernize an Iowa facility.

Astaras, Inc., a supplier of advanced tungsten heavy alloy materials, hosted the grand opening of its brand-new manufacturing facility in Clearwater, Florida, on August 6. The event marked the launch of the DENSALLOY U.S.-made Tungsten Heavy Alloys brand. The grand opening event was attended by several Florida state officials and industry leaders.  

The Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry (WAF) recently launched an artist-in-residence program, inspired by the Kohler Co. residency, with the goal of documenting the foundry’s craft and promoting metalcasting as an art form. 

The first resident, Milwaukee-based metal artist Chris Redmond, is working with WAF to learn the casting process, document the craft, and build the program for the future. 

AFS Corporate Member Allied Mineral Products LLC (Allied) has purchased AFS Corporate Member Industrial Ceramic Products, Inc. (ICP). The acquisition will allow Allied to increase applications diversity, capacity, and expansion into precision, high-fired refractory shapes markets. 

AFS Corporate member WGS Global Services has entered into an agreement with Vibrotech Engineering S.L., an international company based in Spain that designs and manufactures vibrating machinery. WGS Global Services is now the sales partner of Vibrotech Engineering in North America.

WGS, located in Flint, Michigan, with operations in Tell City, Indiana, Athens, Tennessee, and Grand Blanc, Michigan, provides casting finishing, inspection, and labor support to the metal casting industry, both in WGS facilities and its customer locations.

A special ribbon-cutting ceremony honoring Lori Mason, president and CEO of AFS Corporate Member Seneca Foundry, was held on Tuesday, August 19 at Seneca Foundry in Webster City, Iowa. 

The celebration marked Mason’s first full year of ownership at the helm of Seneca Foundry. With a strong commitment to preserving the company’s identity as a family-owned business, Mason has dedicated herself to sustaining the foundry’s long-standing presence in the Webster City area. 

AFS member Kimura Foundry America (Shelbyville, Indiana), a U.S. provider of rapid prototype castings, recently announced the acquisition of VIP Tooling, a precision tooling and CNC machining company also based in Shelbyville. According to the company, the integration brings together advanced casting and machining capabilities—enabling faster lead times, tighter process control, and cost efficiencies for customers in key industries including automotive, energy, and industrial manufacturing.

DISA (Taastrup, Denmark) a technology of AFS Corporate Member The Norican Group, recently announced construction of a new test foundry in Denmark to support producers of aluminum, steel, brass, and bronze castings in adopting the highly-efficient green sand molding process.

The test foundry will run production trials for new and existing castings to prove the green sand process meets both casting specifications and cost expectations.