The use of metals, and particularly the ability to melt them in the bronze age (3000 years before Jesus Christ) marks a decisive step in the history of human invention which led to the control of materials and prepared the way for the metallurgy industry as we know it today.

From the beginning, manufacturing consisted of pouring a molten metal or alloy into a mold in order to obtain a part with the same shape as the mold cavity, after the metal solidified. This process has been used throughout the ages to cast metallic products made from a wide variety of metals such as cast iron, steel, aluminium, copper, zinc, magnesium, lead, titanium, etc.,. The number of metals used is continuously increasing.

When iron working first appeared, founders demonstrated their exceptionally good control of casting techniques, for example bronze chariot wheels made of single-piece castings, and bells transformed into genuine harmonic instruments during the Xth and XIth centuries.

In 1770, the use of the first coke-heated industrial cupola furnace, which is more efficient than a blast furnace, opened up many possibilities for melting new materials.

The transformation of cast iron to steel was discovered in 1855, and revolutionized the use of metal. The use of steel expanded so quickly that all guns used by the Prussian army were made of steel by 1870. The addition of nickel into steel made it stainless (non-rusting), and stainless steel was invented by 1878. It is now used in all major industrial applications, and it is even used in the home.

In the environment field, series production of cast iron pipes significantly improved comfort in the home as a result of its widespread use for water pipes and then sewage networks.

Note also the infinitely wide range of lightweight alloys, starting with aluminium that was first used industrially in 1886. The low weight of cast parts and their strength are now the reasons why they are used in all the main transport innovations of our century including the TGV high speed train, Airbus, Ariane, Boeing, automobiles, etc.

And in particular we should not forget the car, which is the symbol of the new freedom that came with paid holidays. More than 50% of cast iron parts are made for cars, combining strength, safety and esthetics.

Nodular graphite cast iron was invented in about 1945, and revolutionized the use of cast iron that became just as strong as steel and also had elastic characteristics. Cast irons known as being brittle in the XIX century became ductile after the second world war.

There are no limits to the applications of casting. Cast parts are the basic raw materials for everything that runs or flies, and that moves on or under water ...

... and everything that communicates : zamac (zinc alloy) has been widely used for hi-fi applications for many years, and was introduced into mobile telephones at the beginning of 1990.

Cast part manufacturers work to individual specifications written by industrial customers and local communities. Increasingly efficient alloys satisfy safety, lightweight and reliability criteria. They are lightweight, strong and adaptable to all types of uses, and are some of the advanced technology materials that are continuously accompanying changes to our civilization at the beginning of the twenty-first century.