Young foundry professionals from across the UK came together in March 2025 to attend the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers, ICME’s, latest ‘Castinspiration’ event.

15 young people from range of foundries were able to meet up with some of their peers from the industry to enjoy two foundry visits as well as a series of talks from industry specialists.

Day one of the event began at Gripple Ltd. Headquartered in Sheffield, Gripple is a zinc diecasting facility and world-leaders in the volume manufacture of wire joining & tensioning systems for a wide range of industrial applications.

Simon Hardwick, Production Manager, and David Wroe, Site Redevelopment Manager, gave the attendees a fascinating presentation about the company, explaining that Gripple is owned by its employees how this has enabled the company to develop and grow. The employee-owners all understand the business and its future plans, which benefits everyone, including the personal development of all the whole team.

This was followed with a tour of the facility, with plenty of time to ask questions and see the various aspects of the foundry operation.

Then it was on to a very different facility at Dronfield-based WM Lee, part of Castings plc. WM Lee is one of the UK’s largest sand foundries in the UK producing high-quality castings in grey and ductile (SG) iron, ADI and SiMo grades, using secondary ferrous material and recycling its moulding sand.

The attendees were welcomed by Rachael Hill, HR Manager, and then MD Simon Alexander FICME (also current Junior Vice President of ICME) presented an overview of the company, including their products and the range of applications, who they work with and where they see the future growth of the company. The attendees were also able to view several examples of the castings produced by the foundry before being treated to a full tour of the facility with the attendees being given the opportunity to ask questions as they walked round. Particularly pleasing was the fact that the tour was hosted by four of the apprentices currently at WM Lee.

Day two began with Simon, this time giving an insight into his perspectives on the future of the industry, ably supported by experienced foundrymen and ICME tutors, Chris Allott FICME and Eddie Lindsay FICME, who were on hand to facilitate the discussion.

Simon outlined how ICME wants to support young people in the industry and how membership can benefit everyone through training and professional development. He explained how effective training can not only future proof an individual’s career, but also future proof the wider UK industry for years to come.

Mark Fenyes FICME, Chairman of Omega Sinto Foundry Machinery, and past National President of ICME, addressed the delegates taking them through how his own journey starting out as an apprentice to leading his own global company, and how the decisions and risks he had taken took him from the shopfloor to Chairman. Mark skilfully involved all the attendees, asking them where they saw their future careers heading, and generally encouraging the group to look to the future and embrace the opportunities presented to them.

Future Proofing the UK Industry

The event was clearly inspirational for those attending and they appreciated the opportunity to meet with industry leaders like Simon and Mark, to meet and converse with their fellow industry professionals, as well as to have the chance to broaden their understanding and awareness of the casting production through tours of two very different foundries.
One young person summed this up by stating that they, “really enjoyed the past couple of days of foundry visits and talks – it was very interesting to see new technologies and different ideas in a working environment similar to mine”.

Amy Worrallo, ICME’s Training Manager and one of the organisers of the event, alongside ICME’s Trudi Skidmore, said, “At ICME’s core is professional development of people in the industry. Holding these events is what ICME does best, and we continually listen to our Members and those in the wider industry to understand how we can add value and ensure the Institute can continue to play a key role in future proofing the industry.

“Opportunities like these for young people in our industry to meet up and get to know other young professionals are very limited, with many being one of few apprentices in their own company”, she continued, “so ICME is delighted to be able to arrange events like this. We all need to work together as an industry to support and encourage these young people to develop, whilst also encouraging new people to come into the industry – and no-one will do this for us.”

ICME is grateful to the Foundry Training Trust for helping the fund the event, the Founders’ Company for contributing to the costs of the coach travel and of course, most importantly, to all the companies and their teams for opening their doors and being so generous with their time.