Back in 2017, in collaboration with the World Foundry Organization (WFO), the International Journal of Metalcasting (IJMC) invited extended papers from the 72nd World Foundry Congress (WFC2016) held May 2016 in Nagoya, Japan, in a WFC2016 Focus Issue in Volume 11 Issue 1. Once again in this WFC2018 Focus Issue, the IJMC is publishing selected extended papers based upon presentations made at the 73rd World Foundry Congress (WFC2018) held September 23–27, 2018, in Krakow, Poland, organized by the Polish Foundrymen’s Association (STOP). The designation of the IJMC as the “Official Research Journal of the WFO” and working with our global publisher Springer Nature has allowed us to be recognized for our goal of leading the transfer of research and technology for the global metalcasting industry.

The 73rd WFC was organized under the motto “Creative Foundry” and included presentations on the broad themes:

  • Materials,

  • Technologies,

  • Digitalization,

  • Management,

  • Ecology.

For this congress, the extended two-page abstract papers were designated as either Scientific, Technical (more commercial or operations orientated) and Young Researcher, representing works by students, doctoral candidates, young scientists and engineers up to 35 years old from around the world. The entire Proceedings from the 73rd World Foundry Congress, which includes the published 150 Scientific papers, 101 Technical papers and 80 Young Researcher Seminar papers, are available at http://www.thewfo.com. This 73rd World Foundry Congress (WFC2018) IJMC issue includes 17 full invited papers from that congress along with 6 regular submissions.

Maintaining global contacts and assisting in organizing and disseminating the latest technical publications from these events is a critical part of our goal to ensure the timely transfer of worldwide metalcasting information to our readership. During the recent AFS CastExpo and 123rd Metalcasting Congress, staff from the IJMC and AFS met with various key partners,

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(Xabier González Azpiri—Azterlan, Andrew Turner—WFO, Jerry Call—WFO, José Javier González—IFTABIRA, Tom Prucha—IJMC, Anita Lekhwani—Springer)

including our co-sponsors for the upcoming 2nd Carl Loper Cast Iron Symposium to be held September 30–October 1 in Bilbao, Spain, and also members of the Korean Foundry Society (KFS) and the organizing committee for the upcoming 74th World Foundry Congress to be held October 18–22, 2020, in Busan, Korea.

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(Tom Prucha—IJMC, Doug Kurkul—AFS CEO; KFS: Dr. InSung Cho—KITECH, Dr. Sung-Bin Kim—Anycasting Software Co., Dr. Man Sig Lee—KITECH)

In the back matter, you will find further information and links to both events and the resulting future IJMC focus issues, as we anticipate around 35 outstanding papers being presented in Bilbao. The IJMC also received the inaugural WFO Best Publication Award for the focus issue resulting from the 72nd WFC.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my friend, colleague and our IJMC Managing editor, Pam Lassila, who retires from AFS in June. Anyone who has attended an AFS Metalcasting Congress knows her as Madame Congress, the one who makes the technical sessions run smoothly, always has a smile and a bowl of candy at her desk. Without her help, it would have been impossible to launch the IJMC 13 years ago and also ensure that our issues came out on time, including my editorials. Enjoy the time in your garden.

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