Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 11

DAVE MOORE President THE FOUNDRY WAY LEARNING CENTER ARTICLE TAKEAWAYS: • To meet quality expectations, training is required • Comprehensive training should include all aspects of afoundry from alloys to final inspection 18 T he importance of aluminum to the casting market cannot be overstated. Due to the high strength to weight ratio, aluminum is often the material of choice for many product-design engineers. Across aerospace, agriculture, automotive, and industrial sectors, aluminum castings have been replacing traditional steel and iron castings at an unprecedented rate. However, along with this expansion comes new expectations of casting quality and reduced defect rates. In today’s world when most aluminum foundries have a tough time retaining their workforce and foundry expertise, managing these ever-increasing quality expectations can be a difficult, if not an impossible, task. The number one concern of most foundry owners and managers is their high employee turnover rate. They are not concerned about receiving orders. The market is good and the orders are in place. Keeping the trained workforce in place to make the orders is the real challenge. One manager of a large Ohio foundry stated “Only half of my applicants show up for an interview, only one in ten hires stay longer than a month, and many don’t even show up for the first day of work! When you add the fact that most of my engineers are retirement age, it’s easy to understand why I’m concerned.” This foundry manager is not alone. Foundry floor turnover combined with an industry wide greying of the foundry expertise is a major threat to the U.S. foundry industry. To make it worse, our U.S. education system has eliminated most foundry degree programs leaving foundry owners and managers with nowhere to turn. So how can an aluminum foundry meet quality expectations in this new environment? To many foundry owners, training of key TRAINING IS THE KEY TO MAINTAINING CASTING QUALITY IN A TIGHT LABOR MARKET The FoundryWay