A quote from Oshkosh Corp materials engineer Tony Lindert (featured in our Sourcing Q&A on page 18) jumped out at me: 

“I think a lot of designers doing the legwork on these parts, especially for our company, are somewhat newer—maybe three or four years out of college—and they come to us with very little knowledge of the foundry’s casting processes. Most have never visited a foundry and have a very abstract understanding of what a casting is, as well as the rules for designing around a casting, such as draft and cores.”

Design engineers have it tough—they are required to be well-versed in a heap of manufacturing processes, all with their own strengths, limitations, and quirks. Four years of college certainly isn’t enough to cover it all in depth. Like most professionals, the education received on the job, after the diploma is in hand, is priceless. 

Fortunately, many opportunities for continuous career training are available for the metalcasting industry. As Lindert points out, many foundries offer a “Foundry 101” course—sometimes they’ll even delve deeper into alloys and defects education. The AFS Institute also has a wide variety of educational offerings, from student-paced virtual programs to live, online courses, to in-person and in-plant training. 

Throughout this issue, we’ve highlighted AFS Institute courses you can take to learn more on the subject. These options may take 30 minutes up to several days to finish. 
On page 3, you’ll notice an announcement for the AFS Institute’s Intro to Alloys live, online course, which takes up an afternoon and looks at alloy selection and classification. In Dave Charbauski’s Industry Insider column on defects (page 11), we point out a handful of E-Learning modules that are available on various casting defects. On page 16, the information for this Designer’s Sketchpad was taken from the E-Learning Module, “3D Sand Printing for Casting Design.” Finally, in our AFS Resources section on pages 40-42, we highlight a wide range of AFS publications and courses that can help improve your foundry knowledge.

For more information on what the AFS Institute has to offer, visit www.afsinc.org/training.

Experienced casting buyers often say that one of the best ways to have all the pieces fall into place in terms of understanding the metalcasting process is to visit a foundry in person. If this is not possible through your own company, foundry tours are often offered as part of AFS industry conferences and committee meetings.  CS