ICME Short Courses
ICME National & Branch Events
The Peter Gleaves Memorial Quiz , 23rd October 2025 @ 7.30pm
Kenwood hall, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1NQ
Teams of 2 to 4 are invited to enter for a friendly evening of Foundry & General Knowledge Questions
You don’t have to have a team of your own to enter – just come along & join in
Quizmaster Simon Alexander returns by popular request!
£10.00/head – Pie Chips & Peas included
The Event is kindly being sponsored by Sinto Omega FM
Contact the ICME Northern Branch (branch@icmenorthern.co.uk) to book your space.
The History and the future of Vanguard Foundry
Karl Hopkins MICME, Manufacturing Director from Vanguard Foundry
Date: Monday 3rd November 2025
Time: 7pm
Venue: Churchills Bar, 8 Walsall St, Wednesbury WS10 9BZ.
Vanguard Foundry, founded in 1983, has built a strong reputation for producing complex castings with emphasis on the metallurgical properties. The company services a diverse range of clients across the UK and internationally, specialising in the off-road, truck, agricultural, and engineering sectors. In early October 2024, Mr Paul Kendrick and Mr Karl Hopkins successfully completed a management buyout, with a clear vision for the company’s future centred on sustainability, investment, quality, and a strong emphasis on customer needs. This lecture examines Vanguard’s history, current developments, and future plans.
The Evolution of Arc/Spark OES in Foundry Metallurgy
Danielle Woodruff, Sales Engineer from Spectro Ametek
Date: Monday 8th December 2025
Time: 7pm
Venue: Churchills Bar, 8 Walsall St, Wednesbury WS10 9BZ.
Spark optical emission spectroscopy (OES) has become an indispensable tool in modern foundry metallurgy. Once valued primarily for its speed, the technique has matured into a highly reliable method for real-time elemental analysis, supporting both process control and compliance with increasingly stringent quality standards. This presentation will examine the evolution of arc/spark OES technology, its integration into foundry workflows, and the impact it continues to have on casting consistency, alloy verification, and operational efficiency.
Bill Rooker Quiz
Quizmaster – Simon Alexander, Managing Director William Lee
Date: Monday 12th January 2026
Time: 7pm
Making money with Magmasoft
David Hall, Technical Director – Maxima, Adam Rudevics & James Lloyd, Engineering Product Development Engineers – Pam Building
Date: Monday 2nd February 2026
Time: 7pm
Venue: Churchills Bar, 8 Walsall St, Wednesbury WS10 9BZ.
Are You New to Casting Methoding and Design, the Foundry Industry, and to Casting Simulation Tools? All applied to us 12 months ago, here’s our first year of making money with MAGMASOFT® in iron castings in the West Midlands
The correct use of Personal Protection Equipment in Foundries
Adam Vickerstaff, UK & Ireland Sales Manager from EDC Protection
Date: Monday 13th April 2026
Time: 7pm
Venue: Churchills Bar, 8 Walsall St, Wednesbury WS10 9BZ.
In a foundry providing the correct workwear and PPE is critical to keep workers safe against the many hazards in day to day working, 2 of the major ones being Radiant heat and Molten Metal splash. Over the years workwear and PPE in foundries has developed and it is important for foundries to ensure that regular reviews of risk assessments and PPE are taking place to ensure that the wearers have access the most suitable protection. In addition to providing this PPE relevant training for proper use is also needed as incorrectly worn PPE can equally lead to serious injury if not worn correctly. In this presentation I will be presenting various solutions for industry that EDC has to offer and where improvements can be potentially be made, but more importantly I will also be pointing out common mis uses of PPE and the importance of wearing them correctly.
ICME Council & Committee Meeting
Saturday 8 November 2025, from 10.30am, Sheffield. Aston Hall Hotel, Worksop Road, Aston S26 2EE
Thursday 25 September 2025 – Dunston Business Village, Stafford Road, Staffordshire ST18 9FJ
Next meeting TBC, Early December 2025
ICME Dinners & Social Events
Industry Events
October 2nd– 3rd, 2025
Palace Hotel and Chantilly Castle, France
WFO World Foundry Summit
CEOs Reshaping the Foundry Industry
The next edition of the World Foundry, Summit, an event to bring the worlds foundry leaders and CEOSs together, will
be held on the 2nd and 3rd of October 2025 in Chantilly, France. Held with the support of ATF our French member it will be another spectacular 2 days with technical and strategy-based presentations from world renowned speakers and industry legends. The most recent World Foundry Summit was held in New York in 2022, with over 100 global executives from the industry attending to learn more about the state of development, economies and technology in the cast metals sector. Delegates were able to spend time on lectures and presentations but also on networking and knowledge exchange. To see more about this valuable event visit the promotional videos from previous editions here: https://thewfo.com/world-foundry-summit
Organizer: The World Foundry Organization WFO
Confirmed sponsors: FOSECO, LAEMPE
October 7th– 8th, 2025
Green Lake, WI, United States
EHS Conference
Organizer: American Foundry Society AFS
October 9th– 12th, 2025
Kurume City Plaza, Kurume City,
Fukuoka, Japan
186th JFS Meeting
Organizer: Japan Foundry Engineering Society
October 10th– 12th, 2025
Hotel Abacus, Herceghalom, Hungary
28th Hungarian Foundry Days
Exhibition and conference
Organizers: The Association of Hungarian Foundries and the Foundry Division of
the Hungarian Mining and Metallurgical Society
October 16th– 18th, 2025
Park Royal Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia
AFI NSW National Conference
Open your mind to new technologies and ideas
Organizer: Australian Foundry Institute
October 25th– 28th, 2025
Xi’an International Convention and Exhibition Center (Xi’an
ICEC), Xi’an, China
The 17th Asian Foundry Congress
https://afc.foundrynations.com/
Hosts: Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society (CMES), The
World Foundry Organization (WFO)
Organizer: Foundry Institution of Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society
(FICMES)
Joint organizers: National Key Laboratory of Advanced Casting Technologies,
Shenyang Research Institute of Foundry Co., Ltd. CAM
Contact: Liu Hongchao (Mr.), Tel: +86 24 25852311-232,
Email:lhc@foundrynations.com
Lindsay Bao (Ms.) Tel: +86 24 25855720 Email: baolinlin@foundrynations.com
October 30th– 31st, 2025
Tampere, Finland
Use of Castings Seminar
Organizer: Association of Finnish Foundry Industries
November 9th– 15h, 2025
Hannover, Germany
Agritechnica
Trade Fair for agricultural machinery
Organizer: DLG – German Agricultural Society; Tudoksad and Turkish Members
exhibiting
November 11th– 12th, 2025
Avanti Hotel, Brno, Czech Republic
61st Czech Foundry Days®
Organizer: Czech Foundrymen Society
December 12th, 2025
Premier Hotel, Krakow, Poland
Polish Foundryman’s Day 2025
Organizer: Polish Foundrymen’s Association
2025
National Competitions and Call for Papers WFO 3rd Foundry Young Researchers and Early Career Professionals Conference
The WFO would like to invite universities, research institutes and companies in the global foundry industry to promote the participation of their young professionals in this exciting global competition to identify the most promising young foundry individuals in the world. During 2025 the WFO countries will celebrate national competitions to identify the most promising young professionals in these countries, who will then take part in an online event competing with
their international counterparts. The call for papers for the online stage will be closed in the last part of 2025. The accepted authors will compete in the WFO online event in 2026 and the best 10 out of this will compete in person in the Word Foundry Congress in Turkey in 2026, where the 3 most
promising global authors will be selected.
https://thewfo.com/
Organizer: WFO