WFO Summit highlights “unreal” obstacles for cast metals sector, and strategies to drive business success.
Held against the spectacular backdrop of Chantilly Castle, France, on 2nd and 3rd October 2025, the WFO World Foundry Summit, lived up to its reputation of attracting worldclass speakers tasked with talking “all things business” to provide invited foundry personnel with recommendations on how to improve efficiency, and ultimately profitability, in their businesses. Organised by the World Foundry Organization, the biennial event attracted senior level personnel from the industry, with more than one hundred delegates representing eighteen countries.
AN IMPERFECT PROCESS
The ‘mic drop’ moment came during day one, when Clare Kevan, casting specialist at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), queried why castings are being scrapped because they aren’t “perfect”. Weary of what she called a “risk averse” culture, Kevan offered an alternative world, one where “fit for purpose” reigns over “throw it back in the melting pot.” She said: “We are scraping perfectly good castings because of a spot or blemish that would never affect functionality. There is an energy cost to throwing them back in the melting pot. This is an imperfect process. A defect is only a defect if it affects the failure mode, the form, or the function of the component.” Her solution: “Why don’t we call them imperfections rather than defects?” Kevan’s opinion was met with approval from delegates, especially with her acknowledgement that she has “35 years of experience in reducing scrap, preventing scrap and even defending scrap.”
She argued: “All the time and effort that goes into making castings – we should be saving them. I see time and time again castings that are scrapped because they ‘don’t meet the engineering specification’. What we must accept is that every remelt burns energy, burns time and burns capacity. Design engineers know very little about the casting process and customers don’t communicate function requirements. I believe that seventy per cent of what I see in the scrap bin are good, functional castings. Function versus perfection is the real fight for our industry. We don’t need castings to be perfect, we need them to work.”
In concluding she urged: “As OEMs, we design shapes, we don’t design castings. The foundry industry needs to have the confidence to push back.”
THE ART OF MANAGING SUCCESSFUL ENGINEERING TEAMS
Iker Jamardo Zugaza, staff software engineering manager at Google Inc, gave an insight into how to manage teams of people more successfully and the many challenges this involves.
Fundamentally he bestowed the virtues of communication, empathy and care, and the importance of building trust and leading by example. He said that “creating spaces in the workplace for thoughts, support and chat,” was part of building a team culture in a business. “Individuals need to feel valued,” he said. But he advocated that it was vital to set career paths, invest in training, hold regular team forums, set expectations and undertake continual review updates.
When questioned about artificial intelligence, he said: “AI must be highly supervised, it makes a lot of mistakes. We use it as a helpful tool to streamline processes, but it won’t replace people.”
AN UNTAPPED POTENTIAL
Meanwhile, Susan Bere of Grede Foundries, argued that AI in manufacturing is an “untapped potential.” She said: “You have to have the processes first, you can’t just use AI without this. But foundries that don’t adapt quickly to the promise of AI will become uncompetitive and unsustainable.”
She spoke of “the voice of the company,” stating “from top down, we are changing to a technology based company.”
INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS
Krysztof Sikora of DESMI spoke about nearshoring from a customer perspective. He looked at the economic downturn in the European market with the EU Green Deal regulations increasing operational complexity. He showed how a range of challenges had seen a new sourcing strategy to “make risk local.” Passing on some of the lessons he has learnt, he said: “Trust and transparency are the magic ingredients of success. Remember, the customer perception of value can be different and quality has different meaning.” He urged: “Stop selling castings, start delivering integrated solutions.”
FROM BETTER CASTINGS TO BETTER BUSINESS
In an energetic and thought-provoking session, Shiafong Yin of the University of California queried: “What AI agents, Cardinal Richelieu and Benedict Cumberbatch have in common!” She went on to explain.
She pinpointed the diffusion of innovation cycle – repeating over and over again. In an interactive session she discovered how tech savvy the audience was and how open to “so-called” new doctrines such as AI they were. Referring to Alan Turing, who Cumberbatch portrayed on the silver screen, she considered the Gartner Hype Cycle – a graphical presentation representing the maturity, adoption and application of specific technologies and how this relates to the evolution of AI.
She said: “New technology is exciting at first, followed by the trough of disillusionment. This is the difference between inventions/innovation and commercialisation. “Nobody makes money on inventions,” she said, “you make it on commercialising the invention/innovation.” Noting how AI is set to alter our thinking, she looked at traditional versus AI enhanced strategic planning, in terms of timescales, information sources, scenario analysis, risk assessment and decision quality.
She reminded delegates: “This is the sixth wave – the most compressed innovation cycle in human history.” With a rallying call she urged: “just do it!”
WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE
Kriss Hogg of Samsung Electronics Europe looked at how “connectivity is driving everything.” He said: “Private 5G networks are rising in popularity – WiFi is dead! Connectivity needs to be delivered instantly to build workplace communities.”
He gave an insight into life at Samsung and claimed that workplaces around the world would deploy an increasing amount of tech services to operate. He said: “Change is normal, frustration is normal, but you must start planning for this new wave.”
CULTURE TRANSFORMATION
Beatriz Gonzalez, general manager of Betsaide Foundries (Spain), spoke about the journey the foundry (founded in 1989 with a €40m/year turnover) was undertaking to change its culture. In a candid presentation she said: “Technique is easy – the difficult thing to tackle and change is mindset.”
Explaining how to change perception in the workplace, she noted: “Take care of people psychologically, but don’t waste time on the resistors, save your energy for the supporters and the majority who are in the middle. Eighty per cent of my day is listening to people and the organisation.”
She said coaches had been used for employees and that she had also used the services of a coach. “You need external energy to help with the frustration,” she quipped. “My task as manager is to boost everyone else’s internal fire.”
DIGITAL RE-INVENTION
Koen Mellis of Melt Cast BV spoke about how foundries can re-invent themselves with a digital platform. Quoting Winston Churchill, he told delegates: “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”
He spoke about how being open minded was vital to instigate continual improvement. “Things are tough,” he said. “But don’t moan, it is an opportunity.”
He echoed what many had promoted: “The foundry of the future is enabled by a digital platform.” He went on to discuss the company’s work with Dutch Railways and the next stage for the company – MetalLabs, a digital tool where AI helps clients, engineers and supply chain managers to choose between casting, 3D printing, machining or a combination.
AN HISTORIC TRANSFORMATION FOR EUROPE
The “thorny” subject of CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) was tackled by Withold Dobosz of the Polish Chamber of Commerce, who outlined what the legislation will mean for the foundry sector. With the goal of “preventing carbon leakage”, CBAM is imminent for Europe. Dobosz explained: “Compliance is not a choice. We are currently in the transition period, but this will mean that foundries are facing an historic transformation. CBAM signals that the age of cheap production is over.”
Noting that this will be “both a challenge and an opportunity,” he said it would result in “shifts in supply chains.” He also warned that foundries would need to “rely on data given by suppliers/producers.” A heated debate ensued.
Russell Gray of Lestercast Foundry gave a presentation on the Bentley Motors Flying B and how this is produced at the investment casting specialist to very exacting specifications. The production involves intricate details and precision engineering to produce worldclass investment castings for an internationally recognised brand. More information on this is featured in the June/July 2025 issue of Foundry Trade Journal.
Clotilde Mack Bart of CETIM – the French Research Institute for Mechanical Industries – and Pierre-Yves Brazier of ESFF – French engineering school – spoke about the options for foundry training in France.
NETWORKING
In addition to the presentations, delegates and partners enjoyed a range of social events, including a cocktail reception and behind the scenes tour of Chantilly Castle, gala dinner, networking opportunities and partner’s programme.
The WFO would like to thank the sponsors of the event for their generous support, which is greatly appreciated: Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company, Foseco, Gemco, General Kinematics, HA Group, Inductotherm Europe Ltd, Kimura Group, Laempe, Resand, Savelli.