Podcast: Words matter – Understanding the importance of foundries and machine shops
Robert Brooks, editor in chief of Foundry Management & Technology and American Machinist, has been a business-to-business reporter, writer, editor, and columnist for more than 20 years, specializing in the primary metal and basic manufacturing industries. Robert and his editorial team report on the manufacturing activities in the metal casting sector, including foundries and die casters, and the manufacturing technology sector, including machine shops and machining operations that are a part of larger OEMs. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Robert defines some of the essential terms that podcast listeners who are unfamiliar with the world of foundries and machine shops should know and how these sectors impact the manufacturing supply chain.
Below is an excerpt from the podcast:
I'm making this effort to define things because as we hear so often, words matter and there's already too much misunderstanding about manufacturing and manufacturers. Over the past month, I've been corresponding with a young writer who aims to be a regular contributor to our pages and our sites. The initial pitch, “how can digitization reshape metal casting?,” seemed to be promising.
So I asked for an outline of this proposed essay. What I received showed me that her understanding of the subject was going to lead her in some unhelpful directions. So I revised and edited the outline and sent it back with some explanation of what I had done and some guidance about how I thought she should proceed with the research and composition.
Foundry Management & Technology is a center for metalcasting ideas and the insights on metallurgy, design, processes, and technologies that shape the industry and its markets.
My advice was not enough to correct a very basic misunderstanding, which I will explain by referring again to that proposed title. How can digitization reshape metal casting? The writer's enthusiasm for the article was based on the words digitization and reshape. My interest in publishing it was based on metal casting.
Now there are numerous ways that digitization is already at work for foundries, die casters, and machine shops in highly practical things like simulation and data collection, in design and prototyping, and at the enterprise and commercial levels of those operations and in developing applications for maintenance and quality control and in skill development and training.
That was what I expected from the proposed article. The writer’s version and mine did not overlap. And the reason for that is based on the general lack of understanding about what metal casting is, what a foundry or die caster does, and how it does that, and why all of that is essential to understanding the manufacturing supply chain.
About the Podcast
Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast offers news and information for the people who make, store and move things and those who manage and maintain the facilities where that work gets done. Manufacturers from chemical producers to automakers to machine shops can listen for critical insights into the technologies, economic conditions and best practices that can influence how to best run facilities to reach operational excellence.
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About the Author
Robert Brooks
Robert Brooks has been a business-to-business reporter, writer, editor, and columnist for more than 20 years, specializing in the primary metal and basic manufacturing industries. His work has covered a wide range of topics, including process technology, resource development, material selection, product design, workforce development, and industrial market strategies, among others. Currently, he specializes in subjects related to metal component and product design, development, and manufacturing — including castings, forgings, machined parts, and fabrications.
Brooks is a graduate of Kenyon College (B.A. English, Political Science) and Emory University (M.A. English.)