ATLANTA – When he was asked to reflect on his career accomplishments, Von L. Richards talked about his emotions walking the CastExpo show floor. Everywhere he turned, he saw former students working in important industry and academic roles and keeping metalcasting on a positive trajectory.
Seeing that made a mark.
ATLANTA – Frank Abagnale Jr. frequently delivers speeches about forgery, embezzlement, and secure documents. His keynote address Monday at CastExpo focused on his life story, which was made into a blockbuster hit movie by Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio.
ATLANTA – Dr. Doru Stefanescu has accomplished a lot during his career. Yet, delivering the Hoyt Memorial Lecture clearly meant something to him.
“It’s an extraordinary honor. It’s something that makes me humble, because if you look at the previous speakers, it’s a kind of who’s who in metalcasting,” Stefanescu said. “To receive such an honor is something very special. I’m very grateful to the selection committee, that they picked me.”
ATLANTA – With a set of oversized scissors, current AFS president Jean Bye cut the ribbon early Saturday morning to officially open CastExpo. And while he clearly had fun as the emcee of the event, incoming AFS president Peter Reich relished seeing everybody in attendance.
Barron Industries (Oxford, Michigan) is increasing capacity to meet demand from its defense customers for aluminum, stainless and carbon steel precision castings. The company is growing its workforce by more than 30% and investing in new equipment to bring on a second and third shift at its 65,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in southeast Michigan.
AFS Corporate Member Latrobe Foundry Machine & Supply Co. (Latrobe, Pennsylvania) announced the opening of a second machining location in Pasco, Washington. The site will machine items from aluminum bar and tube stock and will increase capacity to better serve customers across the country. The manufacturing facility in Whitney, Pennsylvania, will continue to cast and machine aluminum products.
The new facility is led by Michael Steiner, a fourth-generation owner. Steiner joined the company in 2014 after several years with Ferguson Enterprises (Oaks, Pennsylvania).
Gibbs Die Casting Corp. (Henderson, Kentucky) won the Operational Excellence Leadership Award from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Manufacturing Leadership Council.
The Weir Group (Glasgow, Scotland) is investing an additional $15 million in its Newton, Mississippi, manufacturing facility, as part of a total $50 million plan supporting an additional 150 jobs at the plant.
There will be over 400 employees at the facility after the investment is complete.
AFS Corporate Member Eagle Alloy Inc. (Muskegon, Michigan) was recognized by John Deere as a 2018 partner-level supplier. In a news release, Eagle said the partner-level status is Deere & Company’s highest supplier rating.
"Eagle Alloy was selected for the honor in recognition of our dedication to providing products and services of outstanding quality as well as our commitment to continuous improvement," the company said in a release.
Burleigh Jacobs, a former chairman of Grede Foundries Inc. and the oldest living past-president of AFS, died March 8, 2019. He was 99.
Born Feb. 3, 1920, in Milwaukee, Jacobs graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1942. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. In 1945 he joined Grede as a trainee. He held positions of assistant vice president, president, and eventually became chairman and CEO.