The industry's largest collaborative partner (in financial terms) is the U.S. government. In the past several years, the Federal government has invested approximately $50 million, much of which was matched by the industry, in metalcasting research. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has been the largest government participant but the National Institute of Science and Technology, the National Air and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the former Bureau of Mines have also contributed. DOE works cooperatively with the Cast Metal Coalition, an industry consortia that has developed legislation adopted by Congress to sponsor cost-sharing, energy-related research.

The industry's closest collaborative partner, however, is its equipment and materials supplier base. In many instances metalcasters, casting customers, and equipment and material suppliers are collaborating in government and industry-sponsored research projects.

Metalcasting trade associations, through technical meetings, trade shows, and published materials, provide a focal point around which metalcasters can gather to solve common problems. The American Foundrymen's Society (AFS) works with various government offices and agencies to make them aware of the need for metalcasting research. AFS also manages separately formed research consortiums to fund activities in areas of common interest.

Other trade associations are also involved in collaborative efforts. For example, the North American Die Caster's Association is a partner with other companies and trade associations in Ohio State University's Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing, a research consortium funded jointly by the member companies and the National Science Foundation. The Ferroalloy Association is attempting to enhance internal market opportunities through cooperative agreements on shared technology with foreign partners.

Recently, the six major metalcasting trade associations have collaborated to form the American Metalcasting Consortium (AMC), allying the thousands of small and medium-sized metalcasters within the market with the goal of re-establishing the viability of the U.S. metalcasting industry. The AMC's primary focus is on technology transfer. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is providing program management to the AMC, giving the consortium access to DOD design engineers and facilities. Currently the DLA, the AMC, and the University of Northern Iowa are jointly developing a linkage between all of the national Manufacturing Technology Centers and the U.S. metalcasting industry.

The industry also works with state governments in addition to Federal agencies. Several U.S. states have begun to establish regional manufacturing networks to help small and medium-sized businesses adopt new technologies.

Emerging metalcasting markets in the future will lead to further industry competition, accelerating the recent partnering trend and ushering in a new era of connectivity between metalcasters, their suppliers, and their customers. Equipment suppliers already play an important role in the development and deployment of new foundry technology and the training of foundry personnel to use this technology. Similarly, metal and materials suppliers are often relied on by metalcasters to lead the way in developing future materials. The government has recently begun mobilizing its national laboratories for closer collaboration with U.S. industry. Industry trade associations are also powerful instruments for collective action.

Another trend has been the increasing development of sponsorship consortiums for a research program rather than for an individual research project.

The industry will continue to encourage partnerships and collaborations to combine the experience, resources, and knowledge available in public- and private-sector organizations.

The industry realizes that it cannot, on its own, perform all of the R&D and information transfer activities needed to increase or even maintain its competitiveness in the fast-changing world market. The industry also has trouble keeping pace in its technology transfer efforts because of rapidly changing technology, lack of resources, and poor communications between academia and industry. These barriers and others are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1: Barriers to Increased Collaboration

The metalcasting industry and its technical societies, often working in partnership with government, academia, and its supplier base, have strong research programs in place covering many of the areas. In the coming years, foundries will achieve success by engaging in joint research with technical societies, forming partnerships with foundry and non-foundry companies and securing governmental cooperation. Some general types of collaborations that the industry believes could help it achieve its vision of the future are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Suggested Collaborations