The American Metalcasting Consortium (AMC) has finalized its release of the 2016 Metalcasting Industry Roadmap. The project culminates a two-year industry collaboration to identify future research and development needs to accelerate the growth of advanced manufacturing in the U.S. AFS served as the lead organization in the project launched in 2014 by AMC. The goal of the roadmap is to help manufacturers identify, select, and develop technological alternatives and ensure a competitive U.S. metalcasting industry.
“The Metalcasting Industry Roadmap is a great example of collaboration among key groups in the metalcasting industry, said AFS CEO Doug Kukul. “We commend everyone involved in the project, especially Tom Prucha of AFS, who played a leading role in this endeavor. The Roadmap will be a valuable resource as our industry invests in technology, develops talent, and executes R&D planning in the months and years to come.”
The project focused on four main topic areas: process, materials, design, and workforce, with readily executable key tasks mapped to timelines in each area. The roadmap used industry surveys and a focused workshop to develop and document metalcasting capability gaps, solutions, and recommendations for areas of investment that will strengthen the U.S. metalcasting infrastructure in advanced casting production.
The grant that funded the project is a part of NIST’s (National Institute of Standards and Technology) AMTech (Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia), which was established in 2013. The AMTech program aims to catalyze partnerships between U.S. industry, academia, and government.
The final Metalcasting Industry Roadmap presents a graphic summary of high level topic areas, research focus areas, and actionable paths to advance the metalcasting industry.
Click here to view the Metalcasting Industry Roadmap.
Moving forward, AFS and the metalcasting industry will use the document as a guideline to help shape the direction of research and development work and as a tool to help secure additional government funding.
The American Foundry Society is a not-for-profit organization formed in 1896. With its headquarters in Schaumburg, Ill., AFS provides members and consumers with information and services to promote and strengthen the metalcasting industry.