When I was a young foundryman, I read a want ad in one of the foundry magazines. The ad was looking for an experienced foundryman to act as an auditor of foundries for an organization that was buying castings. I remember hoping that such an auditor would never visit the foundry I was working in. He would most likely know more tricks than we did. As my experience in foundries grew, I realized that, from a foundries perspective, such an auditor wouldn’t be all bad. While he would know the tricks, he would also know what is really important in a foundry. Those are the things that we were already giving our attention and we should receive credit for them.

Since that time, I have frequently been involved with foundry audits by purchasers where the auditors spent all of the time auditing things that may be very important in a quality program for a machine shop, but had little to do with quality foundry operations. The audit became a joke. The auditors complained about things that wouldn’t effect the quality of the product they received and ignored the things that would allow them to be a satisfied customer.

A while after being in consulting I received a call from a potential casting buyer asking whether I would be willing to evaluate a foundry for them. I did the evaluation for the client. In so doing, I realized that there were two ways that I could assist organizations that purchase castings.

Foundry Audit

The first was to do exactly what I did for this client. I went into the foundry and evaluated whether I thought the foundry could produce the quality of castings the client needed. This works very well for casting purchasers that don’t use a great many foundries to supply their needs.

As would be the case of almost anyone who has spent about forty years studying an industry, it doesn’t take me long to determine what a foundry can do. It almost always takes me longer to determine what the casting buyer needs, to get to a foundry, or to make out a report than to actually figure out whether or not the foundry can do the job.

Classes

Another way I help organizations that are going to become better casting buyers is to provide classes to for the people that they are going to use to evaluate whether foundries are suitable for their needs. These classes are designed for especially for the needs of the client. There is no limit to the size.

While I can’t turn casting buyers into experienced foundrymen, I can show them keys to look for that will allow them to determine if a foundry will live up to their requirements.

I want to point out that when auditing a foundry for organizations buying castings, I do not receive a fee from the foundry in question. If I have ever done work for the foundry, I make that known to the casting buyer immediately.

Recommendations

As a service to casting buyers, I am willing to make recommendations of foundries of which I know their capabilities. There is no charge for this service (unless it becomes overused). Nor do I receive any payment from foundries for such recommendations.

Want to try? Give me a call at 847.640.8065 or write me at rwl@lobenhofer.com.