American Precision Castings Inc. (APC) is a foundry specializing in aluminum, magnesium, zinc, brass, and bronze castings using the air-set sand, green sand, and plaster mold casting process.
APC was founded in 1953 as Midwest Pressure Casting and underwent a name change in 1976 to reflect the national scope of its markets.
APC is located in the Pilsen district of Chicago, a designated Enterprise and Empowerment zone, and is committed to providing meaningful and fulfilling employment to the inner city workers who make up its work force. APC is equally committed to financial and personal involvement within the Pilsen community and not only participates in the funding of community projects, but encourages its employees to engage in community volunteerism.
APC specializes in low-volume, high precision castings using air-set sand, green sand, and plaster mold processes. APC can combine these processes in order to produce casting sections as thin as .040 / inch, with surface finishes of 80-125 rms, and with sufficient metallurgical integrity and process controls to meet MIL-I-45208A.
Approximately 60% of APC's castings are used by the design engineering and new product development departments of large corporations to prove and test new designs before beginning production. APC's process offers the design engineer rapid delivery (3-5 weeks compared with the delivery of a die-casting die of 3-6 months), low tooling costs, and the ability to rapidly accommodate changes at little additional cost. These precision castings are designed to simulate a high production die casting and thereby permit the engineer to test design integrity prior to committing for permanent production tooling. Examples of customers who use this service include General Motors, IBM, Honeywell, Hewlett Packard, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and many others engaged in extensive new product development.
Approximately 40% of APC's castings are used in production castings when the application calls for a high precision casting with low annual usage or there exists a need for interim production while the customer waits for permanent tooling to be completed. Examples of companies with ongoing requirements for low production volume are General Electric Medical Equipment, Ingersoll-Rand, Varian, Siemens, Woodward Governor, General Dynamics and AT&T.