Trace every casting back to its pattern plate, its heat and the drawing revision it was poured against.

Foundries supply pump bodies, valve castings, gearbox housings and brake drums to makers who send their own drawing and revise it without warning. The pattern on the floor may be two revisions behind. Nobody notices until the first machined part fails a bore gauge.

Foundry software starts from the customer part number. Every pattern, mould, heat and inspection record hangs from it, so a complaint leads to a ladle, a moulding line and a shift. Tell us your toughest casting to start there.

Enquiries arrive with a drawing, an annual quantity and a grade such as grey iron EN-GJL-250, ductile iron EN-GJS-400-15 or a leaded bronze. Estimating weighs the casting, adds gating and riser weight to get yield, and prices fettling, machining and any outside normalising. Patterns are made in house or by a pattern shop. Tooling stays the customer’s property.

On the floor, charge material is weighed against the melt recipe for the induction furnace, and a spectrometer sample is taken before tapping. Ductile iron adds a magnesium treatment and an inoculant, both noted. Moulds are poured and cooled. Then shakeout, shotblasting and fettling follow. Castings go to the machine shop or to inspection, where dimension, Brinell hardness and hydrostatic test results are written on the lot. Rejections return to the melting plan as remelt, with scrap weight recorded.