News

Casteel Commentary As anticipated for decades, public policy that has neglected the health of the capital-intensive industries like steel castings and forgings has led to a reduction in their capacity and capability. DoD OSD has recognized this concern for years and is assessing the challenges faced by these critical industry segments.   This month’s commentary strives …

Casteel Commentary This month’s Casteel Commentary further explores the challenges discussed last month.  The financial excesses of the past 20 years have inflated the values of equities, resulted in excess debt and hollowed out our manufacturing capability.  We are likely to need to plan for challenging demand that taxes our ability to produce and for …

Casteel Commentary This month’s Casteel Commentary speculates on the issues we need to deal with for our uncertain times and future success. We will need to ensure reliable supplies, automate to supplement a limited workforce and re-invest to modernize and extend our technical capabilities. To be successful, we will need to be selective in our markets and …

Casteel Commentary One theme in the Casteel Commentary for years is the looming demographic crisis for our workforce requirements. That is in plain English, our families are too small to replace our current workforce much less grow our economy. This will have an impact on everything and a dramatic impact on our businesses. John Workman …

Casteel Commentary One change in the North American economy that we have noted in the past is the domination of services compared to manufacturing. This affects trade policy, where gaining advantages for services in trade is a priority over products. Another distortion from an investment standpoint is the inclusion of intellectual property in the statistics …

Casteel Commentary Workforce Recruitment and retention will be a critical task for success for the next decade, even more than the traditional dependence on a skilled team. This month’s Casteel Commentary explores the problem and proposes directions to tackle the need we have for engaged people for our industry… Research Review Please make your plans …

Casteel Commentary As often discussed here, public policy in the U.S. and the rest of North America has been unsupportive of capital-intensive industries like steel foundries. We can see this in the acquisitions of steel producers including foundries by European and Asian firms. With the plentiful supply of investable capital in North America and the …

Casteel Commentary China poses challenges for our industry. The challenge is not that they are more efficient, more capable, or lower-cost producers. Structurally, China’s activity has been a critical support to the market prices for energy and raw materials that has supported our industry while they have made uneconomical investments in manufacturing that will lead …

Casteel Commentary Insanity is the only apt descriptor of our current financial environment. Federal spending, borrowing, equity prices, and interest rates are in an unsustainable place and headed away from any responsible path forward. This is not a political observation and is the result of the polarization and lack of responsible decision-making or policies by …