What is a Foundry? (2024)

A foundry is a specialized manufacturing company that melts metal, pours that metal into a mold of some kind, and once it solidifies, removes the metal (now called a casting) from the mold, processes it in various ways until it is a finished part. Once finished, the foundry then sells that casting for a variety of industrial and commercial applications. Despite this seemingly straightforward process in this industry, there are hundreds of different ways to accomplish both the melting and molding aspects of a foundry operation, not to mention all the secondary steps that take place to make the parts usable. There are thousands of uses for castings, but some of the more common examples of castings that you see in everyday life include fire hydrants, valve bodies, and engine blocks (and many automotive components).

Foundry work is one of the oldest manufacturing methods on earth. Despite the age of the foundry business, the techniques that are used in a foundry for melting metal and making molds have been updated due to countless technological advances over the years. There are more than 2,500 foundries in the United States today and tens of thousands around the world. Not only has technology dramatically changed the foundry industry, but the emphasis on safety and consistent procedures have also made foundries today wholly different than they were even 50 years ago.

Despite its reputation as an old industry, the modern American foundry is adding many new technologies to augment its processes including additive manufacturing (3D Printing), automated metal pouring, automated casting finishing, radiographic examination of finished parts, and a variety of other tools to help us make better parts and be better suppliers to our customers.

The foundry industry serves as one of the backbones to manufacturing around the world. Our customers occupy every segment of the economy. Whether you know much about foundry work or not, your life is influenced by the hard work and dedication that goes into making castings. Please feel free to explore our website more and get to know our foundry. —Quaker City Castings