About Metalcasters

We the metalcasters have a difficult time making people understand who we are and what we do. Yes, we are manufacturers, but we don't make familiar things like cars or refrigerators. We make the engine block or compressor housing that goes on that car or in the fridge. If you take this a step further, we take scrap metals and/or blocks of refined metal, melt it and pour it into molds made of different refractory materials and components to produce those engines blocks and housings.

Its important that people understand who metalcasters are and what they do because human beings are hesitant about the unfamiliar. In our case, this applies to the general public, elected officials and regulators. I would define ourselves to them as the "unknown" entities of the manufacturing world.

Recent history and future development:

The metalcasting world is a large and diverse animal whose tentacles spread across all the industrialized nations. The industry saw the flow of products from the so-called "high-cost countries" to "low-cost countries" from the late 90s until just a few years ago.

Now, we are in the midst of the return of these cast components as many companies (buyers and designers) have realized the total cost, engineering and relationship benefits of domestic and/or regionalized sourcing. Companies must reacquaint themselves with the casting supply chain close to them instead from far away suppliers.

China, India and others produce at lower rates than domestic suppliers but their communication problems, delivery difficulties and very specially quality, soon negate many of the benefits provided by the slightly lower piece price.

Companies must realize that if they want more control over their destiny they must get their supplies domestically or regionally and they can do it economically on a global scale.

A lot of people think and believe that you can't do it inexpensively if you don't go to China, but if you do your homework and research, you'll find the right people domestically. They will realize and prove to themselves, that we are and can be domestically price competitive.

Companies must focus on not just getting price competitive parts but increased value-added services, such as short lead times, technical support, consulting and custom-solutions development. In other words they must leave aside the I win you loose policy for a win-win environment, which has been the pernicious mentality that has prevailed these last three decades.