AFS announces its participation in the national advocacy and educational event, Infrastructure Week, which takes place from May 16-23. Across the United States, businesses will join together to tell citizens and policymakers the importance of infrastructure to their businesses, jobs, communities, health, safety, and daily lives – and the need for increased and continued investment from all levels of government and the private sector.
AFS supports broad-based investment in the expansion and modernization of U.S.’s infrastructure as 30% of metalcasting production is dedicated to infrastructure with more than $8 billion in annual sales and 3 million tons of infrastructure-related castings produced annually.
AFS believes a strong, resilient infrastructure is critical to our country’s economic growth and to close the infrastructure investment gap, a strong federal partnership is needed to fund large transformative projects. While Congress has begun to address the state of America’s infrastructure, the work is nowhere near complete, and it has increasingly been left to state legislatures, cities, and towns across the nation to bear the burden of failing – and increasingly dangerous – infrastructure, and to rebuild and invest in new projects.
Castings are critical to infrastructure. Six hundred thousand tons of castings for construction and 2 million tons of cast pipe, valves and fittings are produced per year. Additionally, 500,000 tons of cast products for rail and 300,000 tons for municipal are manufactured each year.
More information about Infrastructure Week can be found here: http://infrastructureweek.org/
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.