Industry Compact

The American Foundry Society (AFS), Steel Founder's Society of America (SFSA), and North American Die Casting Association (NADCA) signed the following compact establishing a voluntary collaborative effort between industry and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Metal Casting:
The Foundation of the United States Manufacturing Base
October 25, 1995

This Compact is a voluntary collaborative effort between the metal casting industry (both foundry and die casting producers) and the U.S. Department of Energy. The purpose of the Compact is to provide the framework for identifying appropriate areas for joint research, development and technology demonstrations. The results will be a research partnership between the Department of Energy and the metal casting industry.

The partnership will work to demonstrate, evaluate, and accelerate new technologies and scientific insights that address several specific needs in the following general areas:

production efficiency - to seek improvement in production efficiency (i.e. energy ) in order to control production cost, to limit exposure to fluctuating energy costs, and to produce higher quality products.
recycling - to increase the amount of process material recycling and reuse for internal or external benefit.
pollution prevention - to achieve further reduction in air and water emissions and to develop new processes to avoid pollution rather than control an treat it.
application development - to demonstrate the excellent economic and technical benefit of many components when designed as castings.
process control - to develop process control sensors that aid in repeatable, quality product and decrease production costs.
new technology development - to identify technology applications that will enhance the process and material capabilities of the metal casting industry.

The projects identified by the research partnership will be carried out in a joint Federal Industry program designed to develop technologies for the industry end- users. The program will be guided by various combinations of collaborations among; industry, metal casting associations, agencies of the Federal government, universities, national laboratories, and other major research institutions with expertise in the fields of interest.

Although process/product development is essential to the long-term success of the metal casting industry as a whole, it is also a primary element for competition among companies through product differentiation. Therefore, pre-competitive projects that benefit the industry broadly will be addressed in this program. Specific product development is best left to the efforts of individual company's proprietary research and development programs.

The Compact is also intended to re-emphasize and reinforce the activities already underway in collaboration between the government, industry and academic institutions. The metal casting industry is supporting pre-competitive research and development projects in the production efficiency, recycling, pollution prevention, application development and process control areas with both short-term and long- term potential. These efforts are emphasized in order to build upon the successes of the past. Examples include: cupola modeling, clean steel technology, and a characterization of die cast alloy properties. For the future vision of the metal casting industry to become a practical reality, a program of long-term R&D will be required.

This Compact expresses the intentions of the parties to pursue collaborative research efforts. It does not, however, create legal rights or obligations for any party and any party may withdraw without penalty and without being subject to remedies at law or equity.

This Compact shall become effective upon execution by representatives of the United States Department of Energy, American Foundry Society, North American Die Casting Association and Steel Founders' Society of America for the industry. It shall remain in effect for two years, but may be extended by mutual agreement of the parties.

Signed this 25th day of October, 1995 by:

Hazel R. O'Leary, Secretary of Energy
Dwight J. Barnhard, President, American Foundry Society
Robert L. Alexander, President, North American Die Casting Association
Michael A. Gwyn, President, Steel Founder's Society of America