We are already in the month of June and it will not be long before we pass 21 June, which marks the shortest day and the resulting longest night of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also known as the winter solstice and some say it is the start of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. To me it is a more positive thought as it is the middle of winter and referred to as midwinter and, we have turned the corner and are heading towards summer.

Since prehistory the solstice, both in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, has been a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. This year is no different. The day will be known as World Music Day, Wagyu Day, National Smoothie Day, International Yoga Day, National Selfie Day and many more! I think every day of the year is celebrated in some way or another for a different reason or cause. Who comes up with these days and who declares them as official days I do not know.

It got me thinking though – when is it World Foundry Day? There isn’t one for metal melting, moulding or for castings. Well, what a shame there is not one. How can there be a National Smoothie Day and a National Selfie Day, relatively new behaviours as compared to the foundry industry. To say foundry work has existed for millennia is no exaggeration. As of now, the earliest known metal casting dates to a Mesopotamian copperworks circa 4000 B.C. And though methods and technologies have obviously changed since the first Neolithic metalworkers, the core process remains essentially the same – pouring molten metal into moulds and then removing and cleaning the casting into its final shape.

With such a long and rich history why has nobody declared a World Foundry Day. As I explain to many if it weren’t for a foundry every man-made item that we are surrounded by would not exist. Whether it is the components on a car or the machine that extracts the minerals from the earth or home appliances that you use every day of your life. A foundry plays a crucial role in manufacturing a wide range of products, from small components used in electronic devices to large industrial parts and machinery. Everything has to have had some sort of metal melting foundry intervention attached to it. Yes metal melting. No questions asked!

So why then does some bright spark, and only recently, in the electronics industry decide to use the word foundry in its manufacturing process. In the electronics industry, a foundry is a manufacturing facility that specialises in producing semiconductors, like microchips, on behalf of other companies that design them. These companies, known as ‘fabless’ or ‘pure-play’ foundries, focus on design and development, outsourcing the actual production to the foundry. Sound familiar?? The first foundry in this industry was only established in the 1980s.

The foundry model allows ‘fabless’ companies to compete in the semiconductor market without investing in expensive manufacturing infrastructure. Key players and leading foundries include TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) and Samsung Electronics Foundry, which are major players in the semiconductor industry.

In the world of semiconductor foundries, there are two main categories that companies fall into, namely pure-play foundries and integrated device manufacturers (IDMs). In our modern world, as is the case with metal melting, we cannot do without these electronic foundries. Even AI has to rely on them.

All very confusing to those that don’t know the difference, especially as they both involve manufacturing. Maybe that is why we don’t have a World Foundry Day!