WAIC 2026 – a work robot and artificial intelligence exhibition took place in Shanghai in China this past July. What it showed via the more than 1 000 exhibitors that showcased their technologies is that the era of booth toys is over and humanoid robots are almost ready to do real work. Some already do, but we are still at least a decade away before any kind of mass deployment is likely to take place.
Robots in foundries are not a new concept – Atlantis Foundries has been using heavy duty payload robots and artificial intelligence in its foundry for more than a decade already. But the robots don’t and won’t know what we know any time soon.
That knowledge resides within the minds of humans and software systems we have built to partially or fully retain processes, yet that information is still to be imparted to an artificial workforce and blue-collar work is going to be around for a while still.
I recently visited a machine shop where the owner wasn’t able to be there during the time of the visit. But can I tell you who knew how the entire operation worked? A blue-collar worker who had been working there for 20 years. He knew everything about that shop floor and he knew how to run every machine.
He understood the components he and his team were manufacturing and the critical safety factors involved due to the environments where these components were to be ending up. Showing me one process, he took immense pride running a few programmes on a 5-axis CNC grinder and finished his component to within two microns tolerance. He had five microns to play with, but that wasn’t good enough for him. He wanted his component to be as perfect as it could be.
We need to start preserving this knowledge and transferring it to a younger workforce or it will be lost when people like this retire and leave the industry.
No tertiary education or training institutions can impart this kind of knowledge and experience so it’s going to be up to us as an industry to take this one by the horns and find ways to keep safe an industry as old as the metalcasting industry.
I have an idea of this man’s background and where he’s come from and the kind of life that he lives. He’s not wealthy but his skills are priceless and my experience of touring his shop with him wouldn’t have happened in the manner that it did if the owner had been there.
And industry will never remember him. He’ll have been just another face on a shop floor.
I am not alone in harbouring these views, it was stated at the 34th European Investment Casters Federation EICF Conference held in Seville, Spain in May 2026, that, “The foundry industry is facing a decisive transformation phase. Its long-term success will depend less on technology alone and more on people, specifically talent attraction, skills development, and knowledge preservation.”
“Organisations must foster working environments in which people want to stay, develop, and take responsibility.”
But, how do we attract people to the foundry industry? So few people even know what a foundry is, let alone how many critical components foundries produce that we just take for granted in our daily lives.
The closing message at the EICF Conference was that, “the foundry industry must communicate its value more effectively both externally to attract talent and customers, and internally to strengthen engagement among employees and leadership alike. Companies that succeed in attracting people, preserving knowledge, and deliberately shaping their culture will not only secure their own future, but also enhance the long-term resilience of the industry as a whole.”
This publication will continue do its bit as it always has. What are you doing to help?
Damon Crawford
Online Editor / Journalist
