November 7, 2024
Danko Arington was honored to host sixteen mechanical engineering students from neighboring Johns Hopkins University. The election day visit was part of a JHU’s undegraduate course, 530.254, Manufacturing Engineering, under the direction of Ms. Dani Barker who is a master’s student in Mechanical Engineering.
During the tour, the students learned the fascinating basics of metal casting: how aluminum ingots – the only direct material in a foundry, are melted to produce cool components used in a wide variety of aerospace and defense applications. A special emphasis on the tour was on people: engineers, machinists, and foundrymen who make this happen every day.
Danko Arlington was also able to showcase our Industry 4.0 principles including the use of additive manufacturing for 3-D printed hard pattern tooling, 3-D printed sand molds, advanced solidification software, CNC machining, cloud-based ERP software, and the latest advances in stereophotogrammetry used for casting inspection.
Needless to say, the students left the company with a greater understanding of the awesome industrial art of metal casting. Some students were also interested in applying for a summer internship. Overall, the event was a mutual great success – for industry and education – something that needs to happen everywhere in our country today to forge the next generation of American manufacturers.