Aristo Cast, Almont, Mich., U.S., has a reputation for successfully tackling challenging casting projects. The job shop’s customers count on quality ferrous and nonferrous castings with the added benefit of a supplier relationship built on collaborative innovation.
Igniting sawdust over an investment casting after pouring burns off oxygen and produces a better surface finish.
Modern Casting’s annual “Metalcaster of the Year” award goes to a firm that exemplifies the best of North American metalcasting. Aristo Cast is this year’s recipient for continuously conquering new challenges on behalf of its customers. This established job shop often delivers investment castings thought to be impossible and works closely with its clients to achieve their goals.
“You’d be amazed at the ingenuity of the people we have here,” said owner Jack Ziemba. The company consists of about 40 empowered problem solvers who meet daily to discuss the investment casting work moving through the facility. Open communication is strongly encouraged, ideas are actively sought, and the flexibility to meet fluctuating customer needs mid-production is taken as a matter of course.
“Casting quality and turnaround time are the two major reasons we go with Aristo Cast,” said Micron Precision Machining’s Eric Jacob. The Saginaw, Mich., U.S., customer supplies Tier One automotive companies as well as end users in aerospace, defense and the medical market. “We’re not a high volume shop. We do custom one-off pieces up to two or three hundred,” he said. A recent project involved converting a sand cast and machined aluminum steering assist component to an investment casting.
“We buy various types of castings, and the quality of the prototype they provided was heads and shoulders above everybody else. Timing was spot on and it was very well accepted by our customer,” said Jacob. His team works directly with Aristo Cast’s engineers through onsite and virtual meetings, ensuring casting designs that match both the end use and the optimal manufacturing process.
Ziemba has been involved in investment casting for more than 50 years. He credits Gene Malinowski, the late co-owner of Eutectic Engineering, for getting him started at age 16. At Aristo Cast, he’s cultivated a skilled team of experts. “We want to be more specialized as we go, and that’s exactly where it’s opening up—the higher end, more difficult castings that require a lot of experience,” he said. “Our crew is people who have done it, and our turnover is virtually zero.”