Metalcaster of the year.

This is the seventh year MODERN CASTING has named a Metalcaster of the Year. In 2001, Neenah Foundry Co. was our first, winning the award for its new green sand system technology. This was followed by Mercury Castings and American Cast Iron Pipe Co. as dual winners in 2002, International Truck & Engine Corp. in 2003, John Deere Foundry in 2004, Hayes Lemmerz Montague in 2005 and Dotson Iron Castings in 2006. This is a prestigious list of metal-casters, representing a cross-section of materials, casting processes and end-use industries.

MODERN CASTING began naming its Metalcaster of the Year (as well as its Casting of the Year) to elevate and further promote the accomplishments of this industry. Whether it is new molding and melting technology, rapid prototyping success or new environmental controls, the advances we make benefit not only our manufacturing efficiencies and cost structures, but also our customers and society as a whole.

I know this is preaching to the choir. But, we must continue to praise the leaders of our industry--those that break new ground and establish precedent for the rest to follow.

General Motors (GM) and its Saginaw Metal Casting Operations (SMCO) are leaders in metalcasting from two perspectives--as a casting producer and as a casting buyer. This manufacturer understands the important role metal castings play as the foundation of its power-train systems, and therefore continues to satisfy a segment of its metal casting needs as an internal core manufacturing competency. On the flip side, GM's principal U.S. competitors are doing the exact opposite by closing captive plants in favor of outsourcing metalcasting.

Have you looked at the news lately? In the July issue of MODERN CASTING, we reported that in the last three months, GM's total announced future investment in its metalcasting facilities was more than $160 million over the next several years. This includes $63 mil lion in SMCO for semi-permanent mold casting, $61 million at its Defiance, Ohio plant for precision sand casting and $44 million for automated diecasting cells at is Bedford, Ind. plant. This is beyond the $92 million already spent on SMCO for precision sand that earned the plant Metalcaster of the Year. In today's OEM world, this is almost unheard of levels of investment into captive metalcasting operations.

GM's investments are spectacular news for metalcasting. When high-profile firms make significant financial commitments to specific technologies, other OEMs take notice. For the rest of the metalcasting industry, this is marketing buzz we couldn't create on our own.

While GM's SMCO is this year's Metalcaster of the Year for its continuing development and advancement of precision sand casting for automobile engine blocks, it is important that we, as an industry, recognize the impact GM's industry-leading investments have on our future.

Alfred T. Spada, Editor-in-chief