When the Clow Valve Metal Casting Facility achieved their goal of five year VPP STAR re-certification, the VPP committee immediately started brainstorming about ways they could recognize team members for their contributions toward achieving this goal.  During the process a commemorative coin kept coming up similar to what team members saw at the Tyler Coupling VPP Forum in Marshfield, Missouri.

VPP committee member John Grahek as Chairman for the Foundry Education Foundation (FEF) Industrial Advisory Board for the University of Northern Iowa is familiar with student activities in metal casting and the fact that they had purchased a new Rapid Prototype Machine to make sand molds.  “What a great way to give the students a challenging project and help Clow out with our celebration,” Grahek thought.

The VPP committee agreed and they sent the University a CAD model that Clow engineer Kyle Huelsman created and the rest is history. The students took the drawing and created a CAD model for an eight impression mold and began production. Clow supplied the lead free alloy and the students made molds, poured them off and finished them. The students cast over 150 of the commemorative coins.

In appreciation for a job well done, Clow plans to sponsor the student chapter’s attendance at the upcoming AFS Casting Congress meeting in April so students can network and learn even more about our awesome industry on their way to becoming future leaders in metal casting.