Delegates at the 2013 South African Metal Casting Conference, held in the North West, between March 13 and 16, heard that the challenges faced by foundries in South Africa are not unique in the global context and that growth in the industry will come from closer attention to the needs of foundry customers.

American Foundry Society marketing, communications and public relations director Alfred Spada presented an overview of the global foundry industry in his keynote speech and noted that t

here is a general trend towards greater localisation across the global foundry market.

“One of the greatest strengths of the foundry industry is that there are so many variables in the process and the ability to find great solutions for our customers is almost infinite. As an industry, we need to actively look for opportunities to show our clients where castings can improve their manufacturing processes, efficiencies and/or costs. Impressions of foundrymen worldwide include descriptions such as anti- quated, dirty and dangerous, yet there is so much more to the industry,” said Spada.

These impressions are similar amongst South African foundry customers surveyed by economic development consultancy Mesopartner process facilitator and partner Shawn Cunningham.

“There are many manufacturers in South Africa who want to localise and this will also be encouraged by the Preferential Procurement Act. Already, State-owned companies are demanding greater local content. This requires investment in new technology and new partnerships between foundries, their customers and universities,” said Cunningham.

The engagement has revealed that foundries need to focus on their customers’ needs.

“Foundries must apply front-end engineering to reduce the weight of their castings and to develop products that are designed to be manufactured at a competitive price,” added Cunningham.

The industry-led, government-funded National Foundry Technology Network project leader Adrie El Mohamadi said in the day-to-day pressures of running foundries, the importance of focusing on customer’s needs cannot be overemphasised.

The World Foundry Organ-isation general secretary Andrew Turner said continuity of supply was a critical issue for foundries worldwide.

“Companies that survived the global economic crisis did so by maintaining low overheads, but this puts them at a disadvantage given the need for transparent and sophisticated supply chains,” he said.

Turner tempered this by pointing out that lean, hungry foundries can benefit from their ability to be agile and flexible.

“Volatility is going to become a permanent feature of our industry, yet this could be at odds with a desire for an integrated supply chain. A recent study showed that 70% of executives expressed dissatisfaction with the resilience of their own supply chains.

“Successful supply chain management depends on adaptive operating models, efficient costing models, excellent execution, the ability to anticipate and mitigate risk and, finally, the ability of foundries to recognise, manage and profit from change,” he stated.