Cast masters go high-tech

Castings are a bit of a Cinderella in many parts of the engineering industry, with automotive no exception. While undoubtedly important, engine blocks, cylinder heads and gearbox housings are not particularly glamorous; engineers generally prefer to talk about the clever moving parts inside them. Frequently, suppliers are not based in the UK.

“People tend to think that castings are just a matter of some metal powder and a bucket of sand, but it’s much more complicated than that,” Keith Denholm, head of engineering at Grainger & Worrall (G&W), told The Engineer on a recent visit. “Of course, we do use those things, but many of the techniques we use to design castings, make moulds and verify quality are as high-tech as anything you’ll see anywhere in manufacturing.”

G&W operates a foundry in Bridgnorth, near Wolverhampton. A family business now owned and run by the third generation of Graingers (the Worralls were an early part of the foundry’s history and remain only in the company name), it specialises in producing engine castings for the high end of the automotive industry, with customers including McLaren (for which it makes the castings for all of its V8 road car engines), Aston Martin, Audi, Bugatti and Porsche. It also has a specialist division that serves the motorsport sector, where various complex alloys are sometimes used – and developed in-house – rather than the aluminium and iron that are the most common materials it uses. Its customers in this field include Formula One and Nascar teams.