Products and Markets
Products and Markets
Trends and Drivers
The metalcasting industry is in a state of change. Some segments of the industry are mature or declining, while others are emerging or transforming themselves as new industries.
Metalcasting Market Trends:
·
Production of aluminum, steel, and ductile iron castings is predicted to increase over the next ten years; production of gray iron castings (currently the largest segment of the industry) is predicted to decrease because of competition from abroad and from other metals and materials.
·
The markets for aluminum and magnesium castings have been expanding in part because of the substitution for ferrous castings in the automotive sector. Demand for aluminum components, especially driven by weight reduction needs in the automotive sector, is expected to increase substantially.
·
Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards will require further weight reduction in cars.
·
The use of magnesium and titanium for castings continues to grow in acceptance, particularly in the automotive and aerospace markets.
·
The use of aluminum-lithium alloys as investment casting materials holds promise in opening new markets in the aircraft industry, where it could reduce the structural weight of aircraft by replacing wrought products.
·
Rebuilding the aging U.S. infrastructure provides a huge, continuing market for iron and steel castings for decades to come.
Performance Targets
Three performance targets are set for metalcasting market development:
·
Recapture 25 to 50% of lost markets
· Improve market share in current markets by 10%
· Increase the rate of new market development
In terms of recapturing lost product areas with metalcasting products, many past markets have been lost to more competitive materials or to redesigned products. While some lost markets may be regained, it will likely be with new applications and advanced products that may not resemble the old ones.
Technology Barriers
In order to accomplish market expansion several types of barriers must be overcome (see list below, with most critical ones boldfaced). Those barriers exist for both customers and producers.
1. Design Tools and Processes
·
Absence of concurrent engineering gap between what is expected and what is delivered
·
Casting designs generally take longer than alternatives in concept development
·
Lack of a common, easy access base of design information related to metalcasting
·
No design-for-manufacturer tool that is easy to use and access
·
The commonly used "design by analogy" method limits ability to consider major changes in basic design features
·
Many castings not optimally designed for functionality and castability
·
Difficult to convert a prototype design already approved as a machined-part fabrication to a casting
·
Lack of intermediate shops between castings and finished product (e.g., machining, heat treating)
·
Optimizing for internal productivity may not optimize for customer needs
- mixing and unraveling is inefficient
·
Production control systems are inadequate for casting
- MRP systems do not work in reverse
2. Standards
·
U.S. is not using international standards
· Standards do not exist for information exchange (customer/producer)
· Performance database standards do not exist
· New component applications seldom considered as castings in part because of the lack of standardized design data
· Testing required to include alloys in U.S. standards and construction codes is extensive and costly
· Industry has not captured the logic inherent in metalcasting design choices
3. Customer Requirements
·
Inability to adequately identify future customer needs and therefore predict technology
company size makes this difficult
· View that castings are a manufacturer issue, not a primary design issue
· Inability to effectively market castings
· Customer drives demand, but casters do not understand the customer requirements
· Systems are not designed to make customer deliveries
casting traceability
· Delivery time is too long
· Customers are demanding higher quality and more value-added services
quality of castings is sometimes perceived as being insufficient
4. Designer/Customer Knowledge
·
Design engineers lack knowledge of existing methods
· Lack of acceptance by users because of lack of knowledge about castings
· Final customer is completely unaware of castings in their product
· Customers are risk-adverse and lack confidence in castings
designers
release engineering
purchasing agent
reliability engineering
· Customers are not used to the time it will take for tooling, testing, etc.
· Customer under-utilization of casting geometry to make better parts that are more castable
5. Infrastructure
·
Foundries are not tier-one suppliers to original equipment suppliers (OEMs)
· Transition from a sellers' market to a buyers' market
· Industry is often unable to respond quickly to emerging market opportunities
· Cost of start up, tool, pre-production, and testing are unique to themselves
not part of the metalcasting industry
metalcasting industry expects customer to pay for it
· Movement of existing tooling from foundry to foundry has been more prevalent than an emphasis on identifying and developing new applications
6. Education
·
Inability to educate/attract new employees at the high school level
· Inability to attract new engineers into metalcasting industry
· Different research capabilities will be required to solve emerging problems
Research Needs
Research required to overcome technical and market barriers should be characterized with sufficient detail to help focus the research community in solving technical problems but with a broad enough scope to encourage innovative approaches to complex problems. Research will be required in the near term (0 to 3 years) to improve many existing tools and processes, in the mid term (3 to 10 years) to meet more complex needs and pursue new markets, and in all time frames (0 to 10+ years) for ongoing research that will produce benefits in several time periods (see Table below).
Table: R&D Needs in Products and Markets by Time Frame
|
Category |
Priority |
Time Frame |
Research Needs |
|
Design Tools |
Medium |
Near |
Develop tools to enable concurrent engineering throughout the production system
- must be ready to act
- increase responsiveness to customer need
|
|
Medium |
Near |
Develop design-for-manufacture tool that is easy to use (possibly web-based)
|
| |
Near |
Develop robust, inter operable analysis tools for the metalcasting Industry
|
| |
Near |
Develop better solid model casting design tools |
| |
Near |
Advance the integration of part/tool design and process variable specification
|
|
High |
Mid |
Develop computer design tool to move from a part design to a casting design |
|
High |
Mid |
Develop a feature-based design that considers geometry and its relationship to physical and mechanical properties
- improve visualization of casting geometry in 3 dimensions
|
| |
Mid |
Develop software to simulate casting processes and casting service under various conditions
|
| |
All |
Develop tools required to turn casting design into production design
- work castings into early stages of design
- economics must be there
|
|
Product and Process Improvements |
High |
Near |
Develop ways to demonstrate quality and value of metal casting products |
|
High |
Near |
Develop improved methods to predict patternmaking contraction |
|
Medium |
Mid |
Develop tools and technologies to reduce lead times in the metalcasting industry
- coordinate existing work in this area
- prototyping
- production
|
| |
All |
Develop castings for new applications in construction, large structures, transportation equipment, defense hardware, etc. |
|
Market Analysis and Transformation
|
Top |
Near |
Develop methods to encourage/systematize concurrent engineering partnerships within metalcasting industry
- standardize specification for efficient transfer of information
|
| |
Near |
Conduct gap analysis among customers who is going to help the small founders |
| |
Near |
Determine how castings can be marketed effectively |
| |
Near |
Analyze the demand for major cast products
- change product design or change the casting process
|
| |
Mid |
Develop a system to determine and disseminate what the competition is doing
- database of competitive properties, processes, and costs for competing materials
- expert system to compare the best metalcasting processes against forging and weldment alternatives
|
|
Top |
All |
Transform founders into tier-one suppliers |
| |
All |
Develop methods to facilitate and systematize metalcasting design and manufacture |
|
Education and Standards |
Medium |
Mid |
Determine how to teach metalcasting across the engineering curriculum
- determine how it happened with computers
- make tools readily available
|
| |
Mid |
Develop standards to change the expectations of castings |
| |
Mid |
Develop product definition and quality standards |
