Running an efficient foundry

Published - 25th Jan 2023

An introduction to Steve Rolfe, Foundry Manager at Haworth Castings

As Manager of Haworth Castings’ UK foundry, Steve Rolfe relishes the challenge to ensure his team of 25 skilled operatives deliver precision castings on time and meet or exceed customer specifications.

“This is a well-run foundry with deep experience in casting a wide range of metals to high standards,” says Steve. “We constantly monitor our operations to ensure that we are as efficient and precise as possible, so our customers know they are getting the very best.”

Haworth Castings’ Foundry

Haworth Castings specialises in manufacturing fully tested, machined and finished precision aluminium sand castings, copper-based sand castings and gravity-die castings.

Through a programme of continued investment, the foundry in Romsey has the tools and skills to deliver high quality components to the defence, aviation, marine, medical, energy, automotive and safety-critical industries.

An experienced Foundry Manager

Steve started work with Haworth Castings in 2005, learning skills such as fettling and shotblasting and working his way up to die casting and sand moulding. He gained further experience at other foundries, then returned to Haworth where his practical expertise and management skills earned him first a supervisory role and then his current job.

“Having worked my way up through the foundry, I have a thorough understanding of what it takes to produce consistently good castings. I also appreciate the little things that can ensure lean processes or save waste – so I know I am helping deliver an efficient manufacturing service for our customers.”

Casting design expertise

Steve and his colleagues have a hands-on approach to solving customer issues, and Steve is actively involved in ensuring that casting designs will deliver an optimal product. When customers approach Haworth Castings with drawings of a casting and quality specifications, Steve and his colleague design a running system to allow an effective flow of molten metal through the mould. Once the tooling has been designed Steve supervises a series of test samples, and only once both the Haworth team and their customer are happy will the part go into production for quality castings.

A range of casting projects

Haworth Castings’ Foundry Manager supervises a wide range of production, including castings in a variety of aluminium alloys as well as aluminium bronze, and production runs of anything from a one-off casting to several thousand a year for a single customer.

Steve is also responsible for the shop floor, making sure that the busy work of fettling and linishing is kept at a constant pace and to high standards. His work involves planning and organisation, training the team and managing projects – it is a busy and fulfilling job.

The foundry of the future

“We are delighted to benefit from Steve’s experience and detailed approach to managing our foundry,” says Lachlan Buirds, Managing Director at Haworth Castings. “We have big plans for the development and expansion of our foundry, and we are delighted that Steve is in position to lead the way.”

If you would like to know more about our foundry and our expert foundry team, please contact Haworth Castings on 01794 512685 or email sales@haworthcastings.co.uk.