Metalcasting makes the difference
Is metalcasting important? Yes, in more ways than most people realize. The modern world functions because we have metal castings.
You are almost never more than 10 feet from a metalcasting. Metalcasting creates products we need and manufacturing jobs for tens of thousands.
The U.S. metalcasting industry is the sixth-largest industry in America and the third largest supplier of castings in the world, after China and India. Metal castings are integral to virtually all U.S. manufacturing activities. In the U.S., castings are used to produce 90% of all manufactured durable goods and nearly all manufacturing machinery.
- Metalcasting supports a payroll of more than $8 billion.
- Metalcasters in the US are predominately small businesses; about 75% of domestic metalcasters have fewer than 100 employees.
The industry reaches sales of $33.1 billion annually according to the AFS 2020 Forecast.
What industries depend on metalcasting?
Metalcastings are essential to these industries:
- Defense
- Automotive
- Construction
- Agriculture
- Aerospace
- Oil and gas (energy sector)
- Mining
- Railroad
- Municipal/water infrastructure
- Transportation
- Health care
Metalcastings are part of every car and truck, every railway car and engine, every building and every piece of heavy equipment used for construction and agriculture, and much more.
The United States has the largest network of energy pipelines in the world, with more than 2.4 million miles of pipe. U.S. metal castings play an integral part in this network by manufacturing thousands of high-quality iron, steel and nickel alloy castings used in the construction, retrofitting, repair, and expansion of pipelines inside the United States.
Our castings also go into the heavy-duty equipment used to build the pipelines, produce the gas, and move it through the pipelines to businesses and communities across America. A wide variety of mechanical, electrical and hydraulic power transmission components are built with American-made castings.
Our industry has valuable expertise, capability and capacity to continue to provide key American-made castings.
Cast metal parts include:
- Engine blocks
- Turbine housings
- Pumps
- Water meters
- Manhole covers
- Fire hydrants
- Drainage grates
- Compressors
- Couplings
- Valves and seals
- Bushings, support castings and brackets
- Flow meter housings
- Blanks and billets for seamless refinery pipes
- Sewer and water pipes
- Key parts in the energy grid
- Medical equipment
Small businesses make the economic world go around. The metalcasting industry is mostly small businesses, with 75% of domestic metalcasters having fewer than 100 employees. These critical jobs are widely dispersed in every state in the nation, with the highest geographic concentration of facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, California, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Click here to see examples of where you can find castings.
Metalcasting makes the difference in our lives
- Every dollar spent in manufacturing, including metalcasting, generates $1.37 in economic activity, more than any other major economic sector.
- Metalcasting supports non-manufacturing jobs up and down the supply chain, from mining to warehousing, as well as engineering, financial, and legal services.
Yes, we can say with certainty that metalcasting is vital to our quality of life.
Want to help spread the positive message of metalcasting? Download free "Castings. Wherever You Are." images for your social media channels and share how castings are fundamental to our everyday lives.