Special Parts Support

Through the American Metalcasting Consortium, AMC, and the Forging Defense Manufacturing Consortium, FDMC, Value Engineering provides “Crisis Management” services to DLA Aviation Integrated Supplier Teams and contractors.

AMC and FDMC also promote intelligent use of castings/forgings through: Casting/Forging Seminars (e.g., Casting Cost Estimating) and visits to foundries, forges, and aerospace customers (e.g., Boeing).

The subject matter experts that are team members of AFCAT, AMC and FDMC have significant technical depth to assist foundries and forge shops who are experiencing difficulty in producing castings and forged items to meet procurement requirements. These are hand-on engineers who have production and metallurgical experience and are able to assist on the production floor.

  Getting Help: If you have a DLA contract, please contact your contracting officer and request assistance from Aviation Forging & Casting Assistance Team (AFCAT).

	Recent examples include: F-16 Spool Valve Assy NSN 1560-01-043-4620 B-1 Damper Ring NSN 2840-01-147-0459 H-60 Deice Bracket NSN 1560-01-115-3578

Properly sourcing an engineered component that requires a casting or a forging is a complicated process due to the fact that:

1.  The number of capable casting and forging sources has decreased over the years;

2.  Each source tends to limit themselves in terms of either process, material or both;

3.  Complicated manufacturing process development for casting and forging lead to longer production lead times;

4.  The order backlog at foundries or forge shops capable of producing specific items may be high, further extending lead times;

5.  The required quality of a casting or forging may further limit the number of capable sources; and,

6.  The need for specific tooling to produce the part and this tooling's compatibility with a potential source's equipment can further limit the sourcing base and potentially require modification to be used at alternative casting and forging sources.

For example if a Class 1 Grade B per AMS 2175 aluminum investment casting is required for a flight critical application, the potential sourcing base may be very limited. Thus, both the proper technical and business fit between the needs of a solicitation and the foundry for forge must be met in order to achieve successful contract delivery. Finding Sources:

 Contractors bidding on a solicitation:

Castings:
Please use the following industry web sites to search for potential casting sources, based upon material and casting process: For Aluminum, Magnesium and Copper alloy castings: Non Ferrous Foundry Society (NFFS).  Once on their site search by clicking on "Find a Foundry” For steel castings: Steel Founders Society of America (SFSA):  Once on their site search by clicking on “Find Steel” button. For die castings: North American Die Casting Association (NADCA) For a broad listing of foundries AFS (ferrous and non-ferrous foundries).

 Tooling database:  NonFerrous Founders Society (NFFS)

Forgings:
The Forging Industry Association (FIA) website includes an online Request for Quote (RFQ) tool that allows the contractors to submit forging requirements, including drawings, to dozens of forging companies simultaneously.  Interested forging companies will then provide price and lead-time quotations directly to the user.

NOTE:  Contractors who have a subscription to Haystack should determine if their subscription includes NFTD. If so, you can conduct a search for tooling as described above. If you do not have a subscription to Haystack please go to NFTD to obtain access through IHS Inc.