CASTcon 2025 was a great success for the UK industry’s trade association, the Cast Metals Federation (CMF), with over 170 industry delegates, speakers and exhibitors coming together at Cranfield University in April 2025 to discuss some of the key topics affecting the foundry and castings industry, writes Pam Murrell FICME, former CMF CEO.
The energy and enthusiasm present throughout the two days was palpable, and it was rewarding to witness so many participants engaging with each other and the event's offerings and demonstrating the CMF’s commitment to supporting and enhancing the UK cast metals sector.
The speaker line-up was exceptional, featuring a wide range of industry experts who each brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the event.
In keeping with the theme of future proofing, the keynote address featured a presentation on ‘Digital skills and AI in engineering’ from Professor John Erkoyuncu, professor in digital engineering at Cranfield University. He was able to provide some very practical ideas and insights around the ways in which digital technologies and appropriate use of AI tools can support manufacturing and improve competitiveness.
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION
Before the welcome reception, which was kindly sponsored by the Founders’ Company, delegates were inspired by Matthew Cawood, head of group for castings at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, who spoke about how castings and the casting processes can be celebrated as a sustainable route to manufacture, producing components more efficiently from an energy perspective than other processes. He also highlighted work that the AMRC is embarking upon around fuel switching from natural gas to hydrogen.
Rupert Sexton from Sylatech Ltd then spoke about how casting can out compete metal additive manufacturing (MAM) on design complexity, surface finish, properties and volume production, whilst also being much more efficient in terms of material and energy usage, through design and process optimisation. He explained how the castings industry is continuing to innovate and take advantage of simulation and additive manufacturing techniques to improve process control to meet, and often exceed, customer expectations.
Sexton also joined with Erkoyuncu and Cawood for a dynamic and wide ranging panel discussion to explore some of the future threats and opportunities for the casting and foundry industry, including competitiveness, digitisation, energy and fuel switching.
ROBUST AGENDA
CASTcon 2025 featured a robust agenda with over fifteen sessions covering a wide range of industry topics, including productivity, resource efficiency and simulation. with presentations relevant to all parts of the industry such as sand and investment casting as well as diecasting.
The main plenary session featured some fascinating global trends and insights from World Foundry Organisation (WFO) general secretary, José Javier González. Having flown in for the event from other international meetings, he was able to speak about the results of recent surveys, identifying topics concerning industry CEOs embracing AI and automation, along with the impacts of tariffs, reshoring and resource supply chains.
With most industrial nations having a significant domestic foundry industry, he was able to present some of the production trends from the biggest castings producer nations, including China, India, the USA and Japan as well as Germany, which has been experiencing some of the most significant challenges due to its continuing dependence on fossil fuels and the automotive sector, noting that the cost of energy remained a significant concern for competitiveness for UK foundries.
In terms of markets, the defence sector is already strong in some countries, and growing in others, but many foundries are also seeking to diversify into new markets and establish international partnerships, particularly by Chinese foundries, he noted.
A key and growing focus of attention for foundries and their national associations, including the WFO, is the carbon footprint associated with casting, carbon reporting, fuel substitution, heat recovery and energy efficiency.
Better together
There was a strong theme of collaboration throughout the presentation as González outlined how the WFO is ideally positioned to support global co-operation and knowledge exchange through their suite of events including the World Foundry Summit, aimed principally at industry CEOs, the World Foundry Congress, taking place in Turkey in 2026, and the various specialist international working groups tackling topics such as foundry sand, diecasting and foundry management.
The availability of labour, followed closely by skills were highlighted as key concerns for castings manufacturers in most countries, with the WFO organising an annual Foundry Young Researchers and Early Career Professionals Conference to help showcase the relevant work being undertaken in companies, research institutes and universities around the world.
This segued neatly with the presentation by Mike Wilson, chief automation officer for the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), alongside Adam Vicary, chief executive of leading UK iron foundry group, Castings plc, on the implementation of robotics in foundries.
Vicary was able to share their approach to successfully tackling some challenging manufacturing situations with delegates, including the automation of fettling and finishing of a huge range of different castings, requiring part identification, image recognition and programming, which had led to significant productivity gains and how they are also now looking at the future potential areas such as quality assurance and inspection. He outlined the importance of proper planning not just around the kit, with their approach being “buy the best and work it hard”, starting with pilot projects incorporating independent benchmarking, as well as the need for increased training for technicians and managers and a new approach to managing production lines. He stressed the importance of enabling the in-house teams to be self sufficient and able to fix simple problems through training, taking full advantage of all the support and expertise available from suppliers, and independent organisations such as the MTC. Wilson agreed, encouraging delegates to take advantage of funding, tax incentives and initiatives aimed at improving competitiveness, such as ‘Made Smarter’.
Tim Pick MBE, in his role as chair of the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership, addressed some of the challenges and opportunities for foundries in the offshore wind sector, as the UK seeks to position itself as a world leader in this sector. It is likely that castings will be required for many of these supply chains and there are clear opportunities for UK foundries. He explained how published reports suggest that the sector and its supply chain have “the potential to deliver over ninety billion pounds of value to the UK economy by 2040” and that “the UK could expect exceptionally high returns if joint government and industry targeted interventions are focused on specific areas of the supply chain.”
Building on UK Steel’s recently published Bill of Works, he explained that his organisation will be working with CMF to identify the cast component opportunities in the sector, both to encourage more OEMs to reshore their supply chains whilst at the same time supporting UK foundry businesses which want to diversify into the wind sector.
Foundries as core to any future materials strategy for resource efficiency
UK Steel also featured in the Future Materials Panel, with their head of regulatory affairs, Jon Harrison, joining ALFED CEO, Nadine Bloxsome, Mike Smith, director of value chains at the Copper Mark and Nick Horsley, director of planning from the Mineral Products Association. The castings industry, it was noted, is at the core of the global metals and materials industry in being a key enabler of metal recycling, yet dependent upon a wide range of metal alloys, including iron, secondary steel, copper and aluminium but also titanium and cerium, as well as sand and refractories. It was encouraging to see a commitment to collaborate in initiatives such as ‘Back British Metals’ from all these industry leaders.
Used foundry sand, as a by-product for use in other sectors, was another key discussion forum topic, bringing together key industry experts to explore ideas for better resource efficiency and a reduction in sand going to landfill, through some collaborative projects facilitated with the industry by the West Midlands Resource Reuse Network, The Royce Institute and CMF.
NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
The many technical sessions attracted good numbers of delegates and fostered valuable discussions and networking opportunities among attendees. This was also a feature of the exhibition, which showcased nineteen exhibitors. Collectively, these exhibitors generated many leads, demonstrating the productive interactions that took place during the event, with exhibitors appreciating the opportunity to connect with potential future clients and explore collaborative ventures that could drive their business forward.
The event offered extensive networking opportunities, bringing together participants from around the UK and overseas, and a total of 92 organisations were represented with international companies such as Castings plc, CastAlum, Sylatech and Newby Foundries represented with attendees ranging from senior sales managers and foundry engineers to managing directors and area managers as well as industry apprentices and students – a diverse mix of attendees which allowed for rich exchanges of ideas.
Other focal points of interest for delegates included the drop-in sessions on energy optimisation, offered by the main event sponsors and CMF strategic energy partners, LG Energy, as well as guided tours of the labs and facilities at Cranfield University with Prof Dame Helen Atkinson, pro vice chancellor of the University and Prof Mark Jolly being able to outline how the university seeks to continue to work with industry during the welcome sessions.
Through the WHOVA event app, used by CMF to help facilitate delegate engagement and obtain feedback from delegates, the event was described as “very good" for the quality of presentations, networking opportunities and location.
In his closing remarks, CMF CEO Simon Forrester, said: “CASTcon 2025 has been a resounding success, bringing together our industry for almost two days packed with insightful speeches, engaging sessions, and significant networking opportunities”. He thanked the team, including former CEO Dr Pam Murrell FICME, for organising the event, as well as the team at Cranfield for their help with hosting the conference, and all the speakers, sponsors and exhibitors for their support.
“We look forward to building on this success in future events”, he said, “ensuring that CASTcon continues to serve as a pivotal platform for innovation and collaboration in the UK cast metals sector. Thank you to everyone who made this event possible!”