Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 8

52 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 8 were completed over a recent 12-month period. Over the past year, utilization of Institute training resources increased markedly. This is a positive development, as a skilled and trained workforce allows companies to optimize production, minimize defects, differentiate themselves from the competition, and demonstrate gratitude to the employees. BVM: How does the organization foster innovation in the metalcasting industry? Doug: AFS serves as a catalyst for innovation on several fronts. The first of those areas is ground- breaking research. AFS is currently funding more than $400,000 in ongoing casting research. These research project proposals are honed and referred by our 10 technical divisions to the AFS Research Board, which makes final decisions in terms of funding and prioritizing research. In addition to AFS-funded research, the Society is also coordinating a number of government- funded research projects with implications for national defense. The second area in which AFS fosters innovation is through knowledge transfer and technology transfer. For example, AFS holds about 30 members-only webinars per year which are viewed cumulatively by about 2,500 members per year. These cover an array of research, technical and management topics. AFS also sponsors a technical discussion forum called Casting Connection that is home to 370 discussions in an average year. Also, AFS offers the world’s most expansive metalcasting library where 7,628 articles were downloaded in 2020. Any member of AFS can download an unlimited number of articles from the library at no further cost. A third way that AFS fosters innovation is through our international activities. There is much that the world’s metalcasters can, and do, learn from one another in terms of stretching the standards of excellence. AFS publishes