Where is your Casting of the Year?

This is our annual Casting of the Year issue for MODERN CASTING. The casting competition was started in 2001 as a means to market the capabilities of the metalcasting process to our customers--casting buyers and design engineers. As a combined effort between Engineered Casting Solutions/MODERN CASTING magazines and the American Foundry Society Marketing Division, this competition regularly attracts between 30 and 50 entries from all major metalcasting processes and materials.

While this is a healthy number of entries, I wonder why we don't receive more, considering there are more than 2,300 plants in the U.S. (more than 3,000 in North America) and every casting submitted receives free publicity aimed at casting design engineers and buyers.

Each year, I personally ask metalcasters to submit castings. If they tell me no, two principle reasons are mentioned. First, it is because they don't have the time. Second, they don't believe they cast anything that can win.

I would like to use the rest of this column to address these two reasons. Not so much for the good of the competition, but to discuss two larger problems in existence in our industry.

In regard to the first excuse, the reality is that you, as a metalcaster, usually don't place marketing as a high priority on your to do list, otherwise the small time commitment wouldn't bother you. For the most part, you have a hard time justifying the value of promotion efforts to interest new customers because you often claim you "already know who all your customers are."

The funny thing is that I also hear you say that many casting buyers and designers don't know the first thing about the metalcasting process and its capabilities. The reality is that a little promotion can go a long way toward helping these green end-users understand metalcasting. And, with every new bit of understanding comes an increased chance an order will come to your facility rather than to a forger or fabricator.

While the first reason bothers me, the second one is one that keeps me up at night.

If you believe that your casting facility doesn't produce anything that could be named a winner in the casting competition, then you should just close your facility's doors right now because you are producing commodity castings with little to no value-added engineering in them.

These castings, more than likely, can be produced anywhere on the globe for a fraction of what they cost in North America. Maybe foreign competition hasn't found you yet, but it probably will.

I can't understand why some metalcasters still produce castings without value-added manufacturing or engineering in them. I can't believe metalcasters aren't trying to work with their customers on every job to enhance casting quality and performance of the end product. Realistically, these efforts don't succeed on every job, but what are your prospects for the future if these efforts aren't being made?

To gauge your casting facility's efforts, walk your shop floor and find a casting to submit to next year's competition. Focus on a casting that solved a customer problem. I guarantee you will find one. Often, we become so focused on the day to day that we forget the successes of the past. And, these successes are what will help us secure customers in the future.

Once you have selected the casting, email me its details and ship it to us. My email address is on the bottom of this page, and our mailing address is on p. 6. We will accept submissions now for next year's competition.

Sure, your casting submission will help boost the interest in the competition. But, that is not why I am asking you to do this. The true benefit for the industry will be your and your facility's increased interest in marketing.

Hopefully, this action item will not fall on deaf ears. As a whole, our industry is not proactive, especially when it comes to marketing. But that doesn't mean this message isn't important and shouldn't be repeated. The reality is that marketing is as important to our future as improving casting production.

Take this time to prove me wrong and submit a casting to the competition. This could be your firm's first step toward a brighter future.

Alfred T. Spada, Editor-in-chief

If you have any comments about this editorial or any other item that appears in MODERN CASTING, email me at [e-mail].