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Tom Stundza, Executive Editor -- Purchasing, 12/11/2003 2:00:00 AM
There are 1,170 iron and steel foundries operating nationwide, the government says, and another 1,230 casting houses that melt aluminum, zinc and other nonferrous metals. These firms pour blistering alloys into molds that cast metal into parts for automotive, heavy vehicle, appliance and other industries. Metal casting is one of the oldest of the manufacturing technologies, but it's an automated process nowadays. At least it is in the U.S., where there also are sophisticated health and safety systems.
Overcapacity remains a big issue, even though 550 casting shops have closed since 1999. Now, foundry operators are blaming hard times on Chinese imports. Well, it's true that imports have surged since 2000, but they've come from India, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and Germany, as well as China. And China's casting industry has startlingly inefficient parts plants creating real quality problems. For example, a recent New York Times dispatch from China reports: "Workers at Dickensian foundries filled with acrid green fumes still ladle chemical additives into buckets of molten steel, then tip the buckets by hand to pour the steel into molds for auto parts."
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