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When someone says manufacturing, engineering, or iron casting—the last thing you may think of is art. Waupaca Foundry’s Mike Hemmila does not consider himself an artist. Still, it’s his mission to create the concept, design, and fabrication for a piece of artwork featuring glass and cast iron.
Congratulations to Waupaca Foundry’s Ariel Bartel, who recently earned her Level III MAGMASOFT certification through MAGMA Academy. MAGMA is a world-wide leading developer and supplier of finite element analysis software, including MAGMASOFT. Through certification, users become adept at maximizing the tool’s more advanced features in aim to improve metal casting quality, optimize processes, and reduce production costs.
Foundries have long been defined by their hard work environments and manual labor. However, in the last 25 years, Waupaca Foundry has both witnessed and led industry change. Since 2016 alone, Waupaca Foundry has invested over $360 million in capital to build, continuously improve, and maintain state-of-the-art operations. Technology and automation have made foundry and machining jobs safer, more ergonomic and skilled. Areas in the foundry where manual operations still outpace robotics do remain, though, such as in the mill room. There is an opportunity to bridge the automation gap and improve work environments that support team wellness and longevity. Enter the world’s first soft exoskeleton glove: The Ironhand®.
Waupaca Foundry Tooling Engineer Alan Crawford earned his Level III MAGMASOFT® certification in 2022—one of only approximately 50 in the United States. His recent presentation at the MAGMA North American User Group meeting in Chicago, Illinois, on September 7-9, 2022, made a significant impact. In fact, the certification panel asked Crawford to share his capstone project again at the MAGMA International User Group event in Munich, Germany, on October 19-21, 2022.
Pagel is a 30-year veteran of Waupaca Foundry who has served in positions including molding supervisor, plant manager and, most recently, director of operations. He started in 1993 as an operator in the molding department at Plant 2/3 in Waupaca. In 2021, while working as plant manager at Plant 2/3, he was also responsible for melt and molding operations at Plant 6, which is located in Etowah, Tennessee
Grinding castings is a strenuous and demanding job – and assigning workers to that necessary task is a real challenge for metal casting operations. But it’s essential work, and as foundries produce higher volumes of castings the strain and need grow proportionally. Waupaca Foundry is pioneering use of “adaptive technology” to support workers assigned to manually grind iron castings.
Mary Hotvedt, Credit Manager at Waupaca Foundry, has maintained a career in the credit and collections field for over twenty years. Mary has spent most of her career at Waupaca Foundry; recently, Dan Pike, Director of Motor Credit at ABC-Amega, sat down with Mary to discuss her career.
Looking back over the last 30 years, Todd Pagel, vice president of operations at Waupaca Foundry, said he expected his life to take a much different path than it did. “I grew up in a small town, and I worked on a farm in our community,” he said. “When I graduated high school, I went to college for a year and a half, and with my background in 4H and working on a big beef cattle operation, I was going to school to be a veterinarian.”
The number of women in the workforce has seen double-digit growth over the last century – from 20% in 1920 to approximately 47% today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new splash pad at Swan Park was held on September 12. The project cost $1.5 million. Major donors were Community First Credit Union, Farmer’s State Bank, Theda Care, the Waupaca Foundry, Peterson Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, Faulks Brothers and Chris and Vic Anthony.
