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Does this scenario sound familiar? After years of procuring numerous commodities during your purchasing career, you’ve been assigned to be the casting buyer for your organization.

Traditional, one-man leadership has been replaced by something that works better at AFS Corporate Member PIAD Precision Casting Corp., a non-ferrous foundry 38 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

For most people, when there’s a purchasing decision to be made, the more choices available, the better. In my house, however, choices must be carefully curtailed.

Lost foam offers tremendous design flexibility by allowing multiple features to be oriented as required for the form, fit, and functionality compared to the conventional sand-casting process, which