Top DOE official meets with AFS leaders, tours foundries to See IOF program impact. (Washington Alert) .

David Garman, appointed by President George W. Bush as the Asst. Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE), recently toured two AFS member foundries. Garman visited Willard Industries, Inc. arid Cast-Fab Technologies, Inc., both in Cincinnati, to see the impact of the DOE Metalcasting Industry of the Future (IOF) program. Garman oversees all of DOE's clean energy technologies programs and a wide variety of research funds. AFS President Don Huizenga, Kurdziel Industries, Inc., and AFS Executive Vice President Dwight Barnhard accompanied Garman on these tours; providing him with a detailed overview of the industry and some of the ongoing univeristy-based research projects that represent the industry's future. DOE's Metalcasting IOF program, which is co-funded by DOE and the industry, is a vital partnership that has dramatically enhanced metalcasting R&D and technology through millions of dollars f energy efficiency research. AFS participates in this pro gram with the North American Die Casting Assn., Rosemont, Illinois, and the Steel Founders' Society of America, Barrington, Illinois, as part of the Cast Metals Coalition (CMC). During the last 10 years, CMC has matched the $30 million federal government contribution for a total of $60 million in metalcasting research.