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 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.
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.
Pace Industries, LLC (Pace) (Fayetteville, Arkansas) emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early June, successfully completing its financial restructuring plan to deleverage its balance sheet and create a sustainable capital structure. The company is an aluminum, magnesium and zinc diecaster.
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.
Fonderie Mora Gavardo (Gavardo, Italy) has appointed AFS Corporate Member General Kinematics (GK) (Crystal Lake, Illinois) to be the system integrator and equipment provider for their new foundry system. The decision was based on previous experience with GK’s design and installation of a shakeout system, GK’s experience implementing numerous turn-key foundry installations worldwide, and their ability to deliver the full system.
AFS Corporate Member Cadillac Casting, Inc. (Cadillac, Michigan) has embarked on a partnership with an Ohio-based gym-equipment manufacturer, Rogue Fitness, to make some of its products and distribute them worldwide. In a web statement, Rogue said, “We’re proud to have developed this line with the team at Cadillac Casting, a privately-owned Midwest foundry with nearly 100 years of history in metalcasting, and an unmatched reputation for quality.”