Reflections on a Journey
I was working in the US steel industry when I was contacted by a recruiter representing a Swedish start-up company based in Detroit. After a positive telephone conversation, I travelled to Detroit to meet Ted Louckes, the President, and Lennart Bäckerud, the founder. The company had an ingenious idea, and an ambitious vision, but no product, no customers and no revenue. I was impressed by Ted and, after a second interview, I agreed to become the first Technical Director of SinterCast. It was November 1991. I was 29 years old.
First observed and patented in 1948, the foundry industry had made many attempts to produce Compacted Graphite Iron. By the time SinterCast entered the arena, the consensus in the industry was that CGI wasn’t viable for complex components or for high volume production. It was an uphill battle. Through trials, research and development, presentations and publications, we earned the confidence of the foundries. By 1995, the foundries started to declare that, with the help of SinterCast, they could offer CGI cylinder blocks. In parallel, we developed a material property database to enable the OEMs to optimise the benefits of CGI, and we worked tirelessly with the machine tool industry to establish solutions for high volume machining. The OEMs started to listen; it was a fascinating decade.
On reflection, I’m sure that SinterCast couldn’t have survived the 1990’s without the determination, leadership and investor credibility of my predecessor, Bertil Hagman. Bertil joined SinterCast five months after me; with a clear hierarchy as my boss. Through the next ten years, he became my colleague, my mentor and my friend. I will always be grateful for what Bertil did for SinterCast, and for me.
The 1990’s culminated with the start of production of the first-ever CGI series production cylinder block. It was a 3.3 litre V8 for Audi, produced at the Halberg foundry in Saarbrücken, using the SinterCast technology. The engine was only offered in the flagship A8, so the volume was low, never more than 10,000 per year. But it provided a successful production reference, and importantly, a new benchmark for engine performance and fuel efficiency. Building on that successful reference, Ford approved the first high-volume CGI engine. It was a 2.7 litre V6 destined for Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, and it was fittingly approved by Ford on midsummer day in 2001! Before informing the colleagues, I walked out to the privacy of the fire escape and threw my arms in the air.
The Ford engine started production in September 2003, at the Tupy foundry in Joinville, Brazil. I remember making a conference presentation around the same time, with the conclusion slide simply stating “CGI: Strong but Fragile”. As a material, CGI is wonderfully strong. But if that first Ford engine hadn’t been successful, the 1980’s foundry consensus about the impossibility of CGI would’ve been validated. It was pivotal for SinterCast. Today, more than two million units of the same Ford V6 have been successfully produced, with 2025 marking the highest volume to date. Indeed, Ford has now opened new production lines in Argentina and South Africa to accommodate the increasing demand.
Business is like a hurdle race. Every now and then you have to navigate a challenge, but in between, you get some free running. The financial crisis of 2008-2009. Navistar strategically deciding in 2012 to be the only truck company in the US that wouldn’t use SCR exhaust treatment … and then failing emissions compliance – when their block accounted for 20% of our volume. Dieselgate in 2015; which was about dirty management, not dirty diesel. Most recently, the euphoria of electrification, Covid, semiconductors, the Cummins stoppage in September 2024, and the Trump tariffs have pitched the hurdles uncomfortably close together. It’s been a rough patch. But the free running space will come back, it always does. And, with our strong development pipeline, SinterCast will come back faster and stronger than the market. We always do.
A few years before Covid, I started to proclaim that “in the fullness of time, all commercial vehicle manufacturers will adopt CGI”. This has become true. With the leadtimes in our industry, we have already frozen high volume programmes that will start production in 2026, 2027 and 2028. We are now working on high volume commercial vehicle programmes that will start production in 2030. The past 18 months have seen the most intense product development activity of any period in our history, increasing our production outlook from seven million Engine Equivalents to more than eight million.
Thirty-five years in SinterCast. It is a testament to the fascination of our technology and the industry that we work in; to the satisfaction of each new achievement; to the enjoyment of working with customers who have become friends; and to the loyalty and support of colleagues who have found ways to convert ideas, discussions and challenges into solutions, improvements and products. I have been fortunate to be at the helm while so many capable colleagues have selflessly kept the wheels turning. Our team and our technology are first-class. Anyone who walks through our Technical Centre walks away convinced.
Together, we have established a technology that has benefitted the foundry industry, the auto industry, the consumer and the environment. With our good team, and Vitor’s energy and work ethic, I am confident that our technology will grow, incorporating new creativity and increasing our leadership position in precision measurement and process control for the metals industry. I look forward to continuing to support that growth as an advisor and as a Board member.
I’m ready for the next chapter in life, but I have mixed emotions about leaving when the development pipeline is so strong; when we see a return to the free running. Bringing new programmes on stream has always been the most enjoyable part of SinterCast. The pieces are already in place. From my retirement rocking chair, I will smile and wink when we reach the eight million milestone.
Dr. Steve Dawson
President & CEO
Originally published in the 2025 Annual Report.