Bipartisan Senate Group Unveils R&D Tax Credit Overhaul

Bipartisan Senate Group Unveils R&D Tax Credit Overhaul
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senate lawmakers introduced legislation last week to simplify and sweeten the research and development tax credit, a move they say will encourage innovation and economic growth. U.S. tax law has offered businesses a credit for qualifying research and development expenses since 1981 and an alternative simplified R&D tax credit was enabled in 2007.

Under legislation co-sponsored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch, (R-Utah), the traditional credit would expire in 2010 and the alternative simplified credit would be sweetened to cover 20% of qualifying expenses, up from 14%. Companies would have the option to claim the credit under current law in 2009 and 2010 in order to have time to adjust their accounting and shift to the simplified credit, the bill's co- sponsors said.

For more information, contact Stephanie Salmon, AFS Washington Office, at 202/842-4864 or ssalmon@afsinc.org.

Successful Leaders, Leading Firms to Speak at Executive Conference
Many challenges face our industry, making this a crucial time for us to stay ahead of the pack. What strategies are metalcasting facilities utilizing to compete in today’s global marketplace? How is your facility measuring up to safety and health excellence? What is the status of the current political landscape? All of these questions and more will be addressed at the 2009 Foundry Executive Conference, which will be held Sept. 20-22 at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort, Coronado, Calif.

Featured topics include:

Beyond Employee Retention–Developing an Inclusionary Culture, Tim McMillin, Fairmount Minerals
The Application of the Golden Rule for Life and Business, Van Richey, ACIPCO
Reality Becomes Perception: McWane’s Success Story and the Public Campaign Behind It, Michelle Clemon, McWane Industries
Achieving Safety and Health Excellence–Being in the Top Five Most Dangerous Industries is Nothing to Brag About, Ed Foulke, Fisher & Phillips

Special events include a tour of the MCAS Miramar, which is home to the 3^rd Marine Aircraft Wing of the U.S. Marine Corps, known as “America’s 9-1-1 Force.” Guests will view combat-tested aircraft as part of the tour of the flight line. Active duty Marines will introduce guests to the Marine Corps aviators. To take advantage of the MCAS tour, you must register by Sept. 1.

For more information or to register for the 2009 Executive Conference, visit www.afsinc.org/events or contact AFS customer service at 800/537-4237.

TRI Guidance Available for Iron and Steel Metalcasting Facilities
As the July 1 deadline for submitting Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reports approaches, AFS would like to remind members that some helpful tools are available on the AFS website. AFS Div. 10 has prepared a TRI Guidance for Iron and Steel Foundries that has been posted on the EHS page of the AFS website under the Toxic Release Inventory topic area. The guidance provides some practical advice on calculating reportable releases from iron and steel metalcasting facilities. In addition, a brief article that summarizes the features of the guidance also is available.

Facilities that have not previously submitted its annual TRI report electronically may want to consider this option as all facilities will be required to submit its TRI report electronically in early 2010. For more information regarding the TRI guidance tools, contact Jeff Hannapel at jhannapel@thepolicygroup.com.

Free Webinar: Optimizing Automation for Finishing Iron and Steel Castings
MODERN CASTING magazine is sponsoring a FREE 30-minute webinar focused on advancements in the cleaning and finishing of ferrous castings. Scheduled for June 24 at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. EST, this webinar will be presented by Maus USA Inc., Virginia Beach, Va.

Iron and steel castings increasingly need to be finished and machined in a single set-up to reduce material handling requirements and associated cost factors.The presentation will focus on the developing trends in cleaning and finishing toward automated production systems that allow external grinding, internal grinding, machining operations, spheroidal measurement, part articulation and cycle control in a single work cell or other configuration in-plant.

To register for the 11 a.m. EST webinar, click here. To register for the 3 p.m. EST webinar, click here.

New Sand Casting Consortium Seeks Help
AFS, the Univ. of Northern Iowa and the National Industrial Sand Association is now investigating the establishment of a multiple institution research consortium to coordinate new research efforts toward producing sand castings with improved dimensional accuracy and repeatability. The group is organizing a near-net-shape workshop to be held at AFS Headquarters in the fall, where attendees will get a look at what has been done in near-net-shape technologies and have a chance to provide input and direction for the project.

At the workshop, you will have the opportunity to hear from casting users about their requirements, suppliers of equipment to produce near-net-shape castings, and sand molding manufacturers and their approaches to improved dimensional tolerances.

AFS continually looks at various collaborative and cooperative approaches to expand research and technical information exchange. In the past this has included efforts with the Cast Metals Consortium, Department of Energy, and the American Metalcasting Consortium, which receives funding from the Department of Defense. Information concerning the sand casting research consortium, a brief synopsis of the research completed so far and the potential impact it will have on producing near-net-shape castings, and a link to the AFS library where abstracts of past work can be obtained is available at www.afsinc.org/sandcastingresearch. If you are interested in participating in this consortium, visit the website or contact Scott Lammers, AFS technical director, at 800/537-4237 x228 or scottl@afsinc.org.

Webinar to Discuss Ventilation System Maintenance
AFS will be producing a free webinar on ventilation system maintenance June 25 at 11 a.m. EST. The webinar is intended to define key skills relating to ventilation systems maintenance including:

establishing specific performance expectations for ventilation systems
selecting and monitoring ventilation parameters
troubleshooting of ventilation issues
evaluating shutdown conditions.

To register for this webinar, click here or contact Dave Krugman, AFS PR and marketing coordinator, at 800/537-4237 x286 or dkrugman@afsinc.org.

CMI Launches New E-Learning Website
CMI is expanding internet course availability through a new website. These new on-demand courses are immediately available to start as soon as you register, and consist of PowerPoint based presentations narrated by industry experts, with assessments to check comprehension. PDF copies of the presentations can be downloaded, and users can print out their certificate of completion after passing the course. Classes available now are Hazard Communication Training, Defects Related to Gating & Riser Design. Cost for each course is $100 for AFS Members, $125 for AFS nonmembers.

Detailed information about these courses can be found on the new CMI website, located at castmetalslearning.com. For questions regarding internet courses, contact Jennifer Head, CMI course coordinator, at 800/537-4237 x244 or jhead@afsinc.org.

Analyze and Reduce Casting Defects with CMI Course
CMI will be offering an Analysis & Reduction of Casting Defects course Aug. 18-20 at AFS Headquarters, Schaumburg, Ill. This course offers students a critical analysis of defective castings, types of imperfections, causes and corrective measures for sand molds (green sand, shell, nobake, gas-cured, etc.) Inspection techniques, customers’ requirements and the long-range economics of analyzing and minimizing casting defects also will be discussed.

The workshop portion of this course allows students to analyze the causes of their own sample defects brought to class. For more information or to attend this course, contact AFS customer service at 800/537-4237, or click here to register.

Looking for more information on casting defects? The International Atlas of Casting Defects can help. AFS Special Publications has everything you need to supplement your metalcasting training. For more information on this and other publications, contact Laura Moreno, AFS director of special publications and related services, at lmoreno@afsinc.org.