Shipments to Finish -8.4% in' 01, Rebound in 4th Quarter and '02.Recent interviews of casting consumers and analysis of industry reports for the first six months of 2001 indicate that the downturn in casting shipments in the U.S. could reach 8.4% for the year, followed by a slow upturn beginning in the last quarter. Despite an increase in imports to 14.6% of total shipments and a projected drop in gray iron tonnage TONNAGE, mar. law. The capacity of a ship or vessel. 2. The act of congress of March 2, 1799, s. 64, 1 Story's L. U. S. 630, directs that to ascertain the tonnage of any ship or vessel, the surveyor, &c. due to the acceleration of the conversion of iron engine blocks and heads to aluminum, the forecast for 2002 calls for a 3% increase. Table 1 illustrates the revised forecast for 2001, as well as the projections for 2002. At midyear mid·year n. 1. The middle of the calendar or academic year. 2. a. An examination given in the middle of a school year. b. midyears A series of such examinations. , passenger car production was off 12% while light truck production declined 17% from 2000 levels. Improvement in the fourth quarter is expected to soften the annual loss in light vehicle production to 11%. Medium-to-heavy truck production, off 27% in the first 6 months, is forecast to be down 22% for the year. Other casting market sectors suffering from production losses in the first half of 2001 are construction machinery (10%), valves (7%), refrigeration refrigeration, process for drawing heat from substances to lower their temperature, often for purposes of preservation. Refrigeration in its modern, portable form also depends on insulating materials that are thin yet effective. and air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. equipment (4%), and metalworking machinery (10%). Market sectors that are showing growth in this period are farm equipment (up 9%), oil field and mining equipment (up 25%), and aircraft (up 8%). This article summarizes some of the trends in demand by weight class and molding processes for the major cast metals. While the lower weight classes continue to dominate the picture, technological changes are affecting the distribution. Imports Casting imports and exports are now being analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. to forecast each of the end-use sectors. Preliminary information indicates that imports in 2002 should reach 2 million tons, or 14.6% of total casting shipments. Some of the largest market sectors affected are diesel engines at 39% (185,000 tons of cast gray iron); valves and fittings at 36% (267,000 tons of castings); municipal/construction at 32% (157,000 tons of cast iron); and motor vehicles at 17% (719,000 tons of castings). Gray Iron Of the 4.6 million tons of domestic demand for gray iron, about 40% of the tonnage is produced in the 0-50 lb range. Nearly 90% of the tonnage in this range is produced on high-production vertically parted molding machines (Woodworking) A planing machine for making moldings (Founding) A machine to assist in making molds for castings. See also: Molding Molding . About 1.3 million tons of castings (28% of total demand) are in the 51-150 lb range, with the majority in the automotive sector. Motor Vehicles--About 1,355,000 tons of gray iron castings are consumed in light vehicles in the U.S., with 800,000 tons, or 59%, in the 0-50 lb class. Another 35% are in the 51-150 lb class. The latter percentage has been reduced drastically as iron blocks and heads are converted to aluminum. The percentage could be reduced to below 10% as the conversion to light metals (Chem.) the metallic elements of the alkali and alkaline earth groups, as sodium, lithium, calcium, magnesium, etc.; also, sometimes, the metals of the earths, as aluminium. See also: Metal continues. Internal Combustion Engines--Diesel engines are the major component of this market sector, consuming most of the gray iron tonnage (small gasoline engines gasoline engine: see internal-combustion engine. gasoline engine Most widely used form of internal-combustion engine, found in most automobiles and many other vehicles. are predominantly cast aluminum). More than 200,000 tons (or 35% of this sector's cast gray iron) are in the 151-300 lb range. More than 30% of the demand is met by foreign supply because of the shortage of domestic producers of diesel engine blocks and heads. The recent reduction in captive supply Captive supply is a term for that part of the supply that is not owned by a company but is used by the company to maximize its own profits often at the unknowing expense of those who actually own those supplies. capacity has worsened this situation. Ductile Iron Ductile iron, also called ductile cast iron or nodular cast iron, is a type of cast iron invented in 1943 by Keith Millis[1]. While most varieties of cast iron are brittle, ductile iron is much more ductile, as the name implies. The 0-50 lb range of castings dominates the demand for ductile iron at 1.5 million tons, or 63% of the total. Because of the reduction of captive supply, utilization of capacity is forecast to be high in the future. Motor Vehicles--The less-than 50 lb class dominates motor vehicle demand (at 93% for this sector) and--spurred by some conversion from malleable iron (Metal.) iron sufficiently pure or soft to be capable of extension under the hammer; also, specif., a kind of iron produced by removing a portion of the carbon or other impurities from cast iron, rendering it less brittle, and to some extent malleable. and loss of captive capacity--should continue to do so in the near future. The conversion of suspension and differential castings to aluminum could affect the demand in the next few years. Applications produced via vertically parted molding now exceed 90% of the total shipments. Valves & Fittings--The 0-50 lb range (currently at 23% of total demand for this application) is expected to benefit from the increasing conversion of malleable malleable /mal·le·a·ble/ (mal´e-ah-b'l) susceptible of being beaten out into a thin plate. mal·le·a·ble adj. 1. Capable of being shaped or formed, as by hammering or pressure. fittings in the future. Imports continue to be the main threat, however, especially from Asia. Construction Machinery--While 43% of the demand for this sector falls in the 0-50 and 51-150 lb range, conversion of castings from steel are forecast to increase demand in the heavier weight classes. Suspension, differential and other rear-end vehicle castings are expected to increase applications. Steel With 592,000 tons of railroad railroad or railway, form of transportation most commonly consisting of steel rails, called tracks, on which freight cars, passenger cars, and other rolling stock are drawn by one locomotive or more. casting shipments forecast for 2002, this application represents 44% of the total market for steel castings Steel casting is a manufacturing process in which molten metal is poured into a mold, allowed to solidify within the mold, and then the mold is broken and the solid piece is taken out. . Castings for this sector demand--including wheels, bolsters, side frames, couplers and yokes--are primarily in the 101-1000 lb casting range. The majority of the non-railroad castings are consumed in the lower (0-100 and 10 1-500 lb) weight classes. Construction, Mining and Oil Field Equipment--The majority of the castings to this sector (which represents 53% of nonrailroad steel castings) are shown to be in the medium weight ranges. Truck--Nearly all of the shipments to the truck sector (which also includes military vehicles Military vehicles include all land combat and transportation vehicles, excluding rail-based, which are designed for or are in significant use by military forces. See also list of armoured fighting vehicles. ) are in the 0-100 and 101-500 lb range. Some applications are expected to be converted to ductile iron in the future and reduce growth in this market sector. Aluminum A total of 2.14 million tons of cast aluminum is forecast for 2002. Motor vehicle consumption dominates the metal's application at 60.5% of the total. As the engine block and cylinder head conversion to aluminum accelerates, aluminum casting shipments will grow further. GM's lost foam production of blocks and heads, Ford's use of precision sand processes for blocks and the transplant automakers' production of heads via low-pressure permanent mold are expected to increase each process' output in the future. Motor Vehicles--Diecast aluminum dominates this sector's consumption at 725,000 tons (52% of total). Aluminum castings produced by low-pressure permanent mold and lost foam, primarily used for cylinder heads, are forecast at 130,000 and 100,000 tons, respectively. Shipments of semi-permanent mold aluminum castings are forecast at 268,000 tons, while the sand-cast aluminum process, used primarily for intake manifolds Noun 1. intake manifold - a manifold consisting of a pipe to carry fuel to each cylinder in an internal-combustion engine fuel system - equipment in a motor vehicle or aircraft that delivers fuel to the engine and blocks, is expected to produce 71,000 tons in 2002. Stratecasts' new 2001/2002 Demand and Supply Forecast for Metalcastings is now available through AFS A distributed file system for large, widely dispersed Unix and Windows networks from Transarc Corporation, now part of IBM. It is noted for its ease of administration and expandability and stems from Carnegie-Mellon's Andrew File System. AFS - Andrew File System . The 500-page, two-volume report forecasts the annual demand and supply for all cast metals and major markets through 2011. The condensed con·dense v. con·densed, con·dens·ing, con·dens·es v.tr. 1. To reduce the volume or compass of. 2. To make more concise; abridge or shorten. 3. Physics a. version of the study, as prepared annually for AFS, will be available later this fall. [Graph omitted] Table 1 Revised Forecasts for Total Casting Shipments (Thousands of Tons). Metal 2000 2001 2002 Gray Iron 5634 5063 5059 Compacted Graphite Iron 68 66 68 Ductile Iron 4317 4003 4153 Malleable Iron 210 160 136 Steel 1364 1260 1328 Aluminum Die Casting 1235 1172 1237 Aluminum Perm. Mold/Sand 854 810 898 Copper Base 320 297 304 Zinc/Lead 347 296 309 Magnesium 74 78 84 Other Nonferrous 47 45 46 Investment Cast 156 148 159 TOTAL 14,626 13,398 13,781 |
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