After seeing my first metalcasting facility, touring a diecasting plant was next up on my journey through the metalcasting industry. I had the opportunity to visit Chicago White Metal Castings Inc., Bensenville, Ill. This particular diecasting plant is in its third-generation of family-run operations dating back to 1937. It specializes in aluminum, magnesium and zinc die castings.

The foundry is a one- stop, full service shop. It makes castings, finish-machines them and incorporates them into complete assemblies before wrapping them up in nice little packages to send straight to the consumers. To me, the plant itself was a nice little package: everything was done right there inside the building. No need to travel around town, it’s all there in one location to fulfill all your die casting needs. It was a fast and efficient process that was cool to see first-hand.
 
It felt as if the shop transformed the finished die castings into presents for its buyers. The packaging and shipping department assembled the finished castings and sent them out like gifts—gifts that quietly make the world go round. The company’s employees were working hard to cover all the aspects of producing a die casting as part of their normal day’s work, but sadly, tying the parts with a nice bow was left out.