From space flight to surgical implants to heavy  equipment, metal cast parts are critical ingredients in our national manufacturing processes. The ability to pour liquid metal in complex near-net shapes can at times be the only cost-effective solution to product design. The use of metal cast components represents an under-exploited competitive cost advantage to U.S. manufacturers. Liquid metal manufacturing offers lower costs through reduced part counts, the ability to cast complex configurations in near-net shape, and achieve forms that in some cases are unattainable in other process.

  The Cast Metal Coalition (CMC) was formed in 1988 by metalcasting technical societies to promote research and development needed by the industry. Five societies were the founding members: American Foundry Society (AFS); Casting Industry Suppliers' Association (CISA); Investment Casting Institute (ICI); North American Die Casting Association (NADCA); and Steel Founders' Society of America (SFSA). CMC worked with Congress for the passage of PL 101-425 to promote public awareness and national need to maintain a strong metalcasting base in America. Since 1988, CMC has continued to work with the Department of Energy Office of Industrial Technology (DOE-OIT) to advance the metalcasting industry's technical agenda and DOE's public mission goals in this sector.