"Best ever" CASTEXPO '90 attracts 13,595 to Detroit.

A caricature bust of George Bush smiled benignly at the record breaking crowds that jostled their way past it. A bear posed for photos with visiting foundrymen while passing out promotional buttons. Golfers lined up for a chance to hit their best shot, and a popcorn machine in a product display booth was doing its best to stay ahead of demand.

These were some of the lighter moments experienced at CASTEXPO '90 and the 94th Casting Congress, an industry event that focused attention on the serious business of making the cast metals industry stronger through shared technology and ideas.

There were many other highlights ..... the election of Jerry Agin and Ray Witt as AFS president and vice president, respectively, the Hoyt Memorial Lecture, the Sand Division Dinner and the gold medal awards for outstanding service to the cast metals industry ..... and they were all a measure of the depth and strength of an industry whose vitality also was evident in the variety of scholarly and practically informative panels and individual technical presentations. All of this activity and comraderie underscored the fact that the business of the foundry industry is a vital part of a strong American economy.

Exhibitors, too, shared in the enthusiasm of CASTEXPO'90 as they displayed a record number of new products and innovative enhancements of current ones. Machinery whirred and cycled, vibrating conveyors shook the floor, display panels winked and computer display terminals blinked at passersby as near record numbers of people moved between the ranks of towering machinery and equipment displays. One could hear a variety of languages being spoken, and there were waving hands, nodding heads and pointing fingers as a universal sign language seemed to take over where language failed or was inadequate.

CASTEXPO '90 will be remembered for its huge crowds, its record number of overseas visitors and exhibitors, and the unusually high attendance that marked the first, successful over-the-weekend' program experiment.

For those who attended CASTEXPO '90 and the 94th Casting Congress, the success of the show and the hospitality and thorough planning of the Detroit Chapter are memorable. The show and its accompanying technical sessions and social events flowed flawlessly. For those who missed this remarkable opportunity to participate in our industry's salute to the Decade of the Nineties, they must set their sights on the next CASTEXPO in Chicago in 1993.