EDUCATION, IMAGE AND CHANGE: THE KEYS TO OUR FUTURE.

AFS President's Welcome EDUCATION, IMAGE AND CHANGE: THE KEYS TO OUR FUTURE

Texas is steeped in metalcasting tradition. If you were to venture to Goliad State Historical Park near San Antonio, you would find artifacts from the early Mission Period, including two sand molds that were used by early settlers for casting metal. This means that they have been pouring metal in Texas for more than 200 years, so Welcome to Dallas where we can all feel at home as foundry people.

Things have changed, however, since metal was first poured in Goliad. We live in a world of change where everything is beginning to move at such a pace that you wonder how to keep up. The pie we all want to share is shrinking every day by virtue of the number who now fight for a piece of it. The environmentalists and legislators are right behind the foreign competition in threatening the very existence of our industry. It is times like these that we must focus on what will keep our industry strong and a "vital part" of our economy. It is challenging times like these when societies like AFS are most needed.

Past AFS President Jack Pohlman, Taylor-Pohlman, Inc., said the following at last year's Casting Congress: "Justifying the time and money to attend an event like this is an exercise that does not always provide clean answers. We sit in our offices or work area and think, "am too busy to attend; no, I am not busy enough, "There aren't any sessions for me, "I don't know anyone, "It's only for big foundries, or it costs too much."' Just as Jennings and Haughton wrote in their book, It's not the BIG that eat the SMALL...it's the FAST that eat the SLOW, "Most business people are so busy working for their business or in their business that they never find time to work on their business. Thus they fail to anticipate what might happen or what they might make happen."

AFS continues to adapt to change as an opportunity to serve our membership and customers. AFS boasts 12,000 individual members and 600 corporate members, and its staff and committees have been working tirelessly to improve services and help change the image of our industry in the marketplace. Image changing is one of the building blocks of the new millenium for the "New AFS," in addition to economic awareness, marketing and alliance formation.

At the recent AFS Wisconsin Regional in Milwaukee, I had the opportunity to address the attendees and highlight what AFS is doing to attract bright young talent to our industry. Our Adopt-A-School Program is the beginning of an outreach to the youth of America, and it will be initiated and emphasized at the chapter level. In addition, we must continue to support our university-level students through the Foundry Educational Foundation and AFS student chapters. Cooperative education programs, equipment donations and sharing of time and talent are critical aspects of this continued cultivation of personal talent. If an American is turning 50 years old every 7.5 sec (according to a recent statistic), then opportunities for technologically adept young people are opening at an unprecedented rate.

In terms of the positive things AFS is doing for the industry, two examples come to mind. AFS filed a lawsuit with two other metalcasting organizations and three automakers to challenge the validity of EPA's Secondary Aluminum MACT standards and successfully blocked EPA from applying air standards for aluminum foundries. This saved each facility at least $135,000 in compliance costs. In the fight against a lack of skilled workers for the industry, AFS co-sponsored the Skilled Workforce Enhancement Act (H.R. 877), which was introduced into the House on March 6.

This year's 105th AFS Casting Congress in Dallas should attract top foundry management, equipment professionals with more than 100 tabletop exhibits, a focused audience of technical process and research engineers, and the metallurgical decision-makers from virtually every leading foundry in North America. The Casting Congress program includes more than 100 presentations addressing new technologies and ongoing university research. This includes the first-ever program for the new AFS Magnesium Div.

Come to Dallas and bring your key personnel because you won't be disappointed. Take the opportunity to visit your fellow foundrymen and identify new markets. Be exposed to the latest in technology and research activities. Learn how to bring your workforce up to speed on the basics and higher-level skills. These are some of the benefits in Dallas for the taking if you want to be an active Corporate Member.

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall hang separately. "--Benjamin Franklin, July 4, 1776

Donald E. Gaertner, AES President

Metalcasting Equipment, Inc., Clover, South Carolina