Brian Began, American Foundry Society, Inc., Schaumburg, IL; Donald Deptowicz, Renaissance Services, Berthoud, CO 

This presentation will report on the status of a pilot program for the “Rapid Cast Parts – Center of Excellence” (RCP-COE).  The project, which runs from September of 2025 until October of 2026, allows participating foundries, with or without full DOD supplier credentials, to be a casting supplier to the DOD.  The presentation will advise on the project’s efforts to date, discuss specifics on how and why to get involved, cite examples of challenges that needed to be overcome within the program in supplying DOD castings, and discuss the program and emerging program futures.

Brian Began, American Foundry Society, Inc., Schaumburg, IL

This presentation is on AFS’s efforts to improve the digital accessibility and operability of its various knowledge platforms. This project has already yielded AFS Library enhancements such as the Liberty Link app, the “My Catalog” feature, library tutorials, and the AFS Library Enhanced AI Search Tool, as well as an improved storefront and webnar platform.   This third installment presentation will focus on recent enhancements of the aforementioned, as well as provide updates on CADS and other derivative service enhancements including live demonstration of the brand new AFS E pubs platform targeted for launch in April 2026.  Ultimately, it will highlight the various exciting ambitions with projected timelines of the ongoing AMC Emergent Metal Casting Solutions (EMCS) project, funded by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and AFS under the project title “Virtual Knowledge Transfer Platforms for Improved Access to Metalcasting Best Practices”.

Kory Anderson, Dakota Foundry, Inc., Webster, SD

Your step-by-step guide to designing better parts, choosing the right foundry, and simplifying production from start to finish. This session will cover alloys, specifications, defect prevention, and why collaboration with your foundry is essential. Whether you’re an engineer, buyer, or project manager, you’ll walk away with confidence and clarity, as well as a physical playbook packed with design tips, process insights, and sourcing checklists to take back to your team.

Laura Bartlett, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 

Time to demystify the details and distinctions of seven metal casting processes: green sand, air-set/nobake, permanent mold, investment casting, and lost foam. Buyers: You’ll be prepared to converse with foundries about which process best suits your casting program. Designers: You’ll increase your knowledge of (1) designing for manufacturability, (2) the correlation between process and casting tolerance, and (3) achieving the desired properties for your casting, including weight, size, and surface finish. 

The Mueller Water Works design team walks you through the incredible journey they made to achieve their 2025 Casting of Year project.

Jiten Shah, Product Development & Analysis LLC, Naperville, IL

In DoD end use, alloys not in Metallic Materials Properties Development and Standardization (MMPDS) handbook are utilized much less due to knockdown factors applied, which further leads to non-optimization in design and sourcing.  This DLA/AMC funded project focuses on developing properties with design allowables for C355-T6 Sand Cast Aluminum and incorporating into MMPDS and the Casting Alloy Database Search (CADS) too with pedigree information, including chemistry, section thickness and other process & design characteristics for DoD end users to utilize castings in the C355-T6 alloy with no knockdown factor.  Project progress till-date will be presented, and the project involves AFS member aluminum foundries participation to produce test castings and share separately cast test bar properties historical data to derive best practice driven design allowable.