why is foundary industries called the mother of all industries ? If so called then why is its condition not in good shape ?
Its probably known as the mother of all industries because the casting of metals dates back to 3000-2500 BC. There is evidence to show that between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, early societies began to extract ores by methods such as melting or hammering. There is also evidence that shows small copper items were cast utilising the investment casting process. In China in approximately 600 BC, cast iron was being utilised to create statuette’s and, whilst the new world was almost barren with regard to iron, the Eskimos were utilising meteoric iron.
In the UK the reason why its not in a good shape is due to global competition. The wages in the UK are high in comparison to some where like China. The UK struggle to compete with low integrity, mass produced castings. Therefore they tend to concentrate on higher margin product which require high integrity and are difficult to produce. I think casting high integrity complex castings is also very difficult and there are lots of potential for casting defects and scrap. Finally I think other newer forms of manufacturing such are rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing are coming up and challenging castings as well are more traditional methods such as forgings.
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