With the theme of “Current status of globalization issues of foundry society”, the 4^th Asia Foundry Forum, sponsored by Korea Foundry Society, was held from Nov. 9-10,2017, Incheon, Korea.

Asia Foundry Forum (AFF) was initiated by China Foundry Association (CFA), Japan Foundry Society, the Institute of Indian Foundrymen, Korea Foundry Society, Mongolian Metallurgy Association, Taiwan Casting Industry Association and Hong Kong Diecasting & Foundry Association in 2009 in Shanghai during Metal China. After the global financial crisis in 2008, the Asian foundry industry took on recovering momentum, but the situation was different in different regions. The emerging markets, such as China and India were recovering strongly. However, there was still a big gap in respects of technology, environmental protection, management, personnel training comparing with the European countries and America. Regional cooperation and experience exchange must be enhanced to promote the sustainable development of the Asian foundry industry. Asia Foundry Forum is aiming to increase the exchange and cooperation among Asian countries and regions, boost the development of Asian foundry industry and facilitate the cooperation between countries, regions and members.

The first Asia Foundry Forum was held in May 2010, Beijing, with the theme of “Increase Cooperation and Promote the Development of Asian Foundry Industry”. More than 150 delegates from 14 countries and regions attended the forum. As the host and organizer of this forum, China Foundry Association received applause and appreciation from international guests for its successful plan and organizing. China Foundry Association’s international standing was also improved.

In March 2012, the 2nd Asian Foundry Forum was held in Bangalore, India. The forum was organized by the Institute of Indian Foundrymen, and supported by China Foundry Association, Japan Foundry Society, Mongolian Metallurgical Association and the Taiwan Casting Industry Association. The Forum was attended by more than 30 delegates from India, China, Japan, Pakistan, Mongolia, UK and Taiwan, with the theme of "Sustainable Foundry in Asia". Participants agreed that the conservation of energy and the protection of the environment and the sustainable development of the foundry industry were the common responsibility of the Asian foundry industry and the global foundry industry. The meeting had approved the application of Japan Foundry Society for hosting the 3rd Asian Foundry Forum in 2015.

In May 2015, the 3rd Asian Foundry Forum was hosted by Japan Foundry Society which was held in Tokyo, Japan. The theme of this forum is ‘environment - how to improve the environmental awareness of the foundry industry'. Japan Foundry Society prepared a factory visit for the Asian counterparts to show the Japanese foundry lean management of Japanese foundry, and the advanced concepts and actions of green foundry, the forum has been a complete success.

According to the latest casting production census of Modern Casting, four of the top 10 casting production countries are in Asia, China (No. 1), India (No. 2), Japan (No. 4) and Korea (No. 7). The Asian castings total production accounted for over 65% of the world. But on the other side, the development level and scale of Asian foundry industry varies greatly. At the forum, all participating countries and regions were discussing how to promote the overall improvement of Asian foundry industry under the background of globalization. Representatives from Korea, China and Japan shared with the participants with their own experiences and achievements. The Korea Foundry Society introduced about the status of Korea foundry industry that there were over 900 foundries in Korea with annual production of 2.62million tons. Cast iron are the most products. The main problem is environment protection and energy saving. The Korea foundry industry has taken a series of energy-saving measure to address the problem.

China Foundry Association made a presentation on the status of Chinese foundry industry, and also focused on the “13^th Five-year Plan” of foundry industry, industry access policy’s influence on the industry’s transform and upgrade. Especially, as the “Belt and Road” foundry committee, China Foundry Association is looking forward to more communication with the other Asian countries and regions in capacity cooperation.

The other reports were also very pragmatic and forward-looking, which provide a deepsight to the participants about the Asian foundry industry.

All the participants agreed with the theme of the forum and they all expected a great potential for the Asian foundry industry. Taiwan Casting Industry Association will host the 5^th Asia Foundry Forum in 2019. And the next work meeting for Asia Foundry Forum will be held in May 2018, Beijing during METAL CHINA 2018.