Signicast’s Quality Assurance Approach for Scalable Production

Quality is built into every operation, every shift, and every decision at Signicast. Operating around the clock in demanding markets such as aerospace, defense, industrial, and energy, Signicast has developed a quality philosophy that prioritizes efficiency, accountability, and real-time decision-making without sacrificing consistency or control.

To better understand how Signicast achieves this balance, we spoke with Signicast's Director of Engineering and Quality Brian Williams, who shared insight into the company's quality philosophy, customer engagement model, and the systems that support reliable, scalable investment casting.

Q&A with Brian Williams, Director of Engineering and Quality

How does Signicast describe its overall quality philosophy?

Signicast's quality philosophy centers on customer satisfaction, with speed and quality serving as the primary drivers. Rather than relying on delayed inspections or quality holds, Signicast emphasizes built-in quality at every operation.

Operators are provided with clear instructions, functional gauges, and the tools needed to quickly verify part quality, even during overnight shifts. Because Signicast operates 24/7, this level of clarity is essential. Operators running parts in the middle of the night must be able to make confident quality decisions without waiting for office staff or another department.

This approach has created a strong culture of ownership, accountability, and real-time quality control across the organization.

How early does Signicast get involved with customers, and why?

Signicast often works with customers early, sometimes well before a project is formally approved. This early engagement helps identify potential risks, align on requirements, and accelerate development once the project moves forward.

A new part development manager connects sales and engineering, ensuring technical alignment and clear communication. Regular meetings support coordination and efficient use of engineering resources while enabling strong sales support.

How does early involvement reduce total cost of ownership?

Early engagement allows Signicast to eliminate unnecessary machining, relax overly tight tolerances, simplify processes, and propose alternative manufacturing approaches. Late involvement limits these opportunities and often increases cost and complexity.

What steps have the biggest influence on final part quality?

From a production standpoint, quality is influenced by every stage of the investment casting process, including wax, shell, foundry, and finishing. No single step can be isolated as the most important.

From a broader and customer-facing perspective, Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) has the greatest impact on long-term quality success. APQP ensures parts are developed, launched, and stabilized correctly, benefiting both customers and Signicast.

How does APQP work at Signicast, and are customers involved?

Customer involvement happens organically through collaboration. Rather than simply accepting drawings, Signicast asks detailed questions about part function, assembly, critical dimensions, and acceptable flexibility. Customers are often invited to consider design changes that may reduce cost or improve manufacturability. This approach helps clarify requirements while leading to stronger design-for-manufacturability outcomes.

How does Signicast ensure smooth new-customer launches?

Successful launches are supported by highly skilled engineers and toolmakers on site, a robust APQP and new part introduction system, and close coordination between engineering, tooling, and quality teams. Together, these elements enable reliable, well-controlled program launches.

How does prototyping support quality improvement?

Investment casting prototyping is an integral tool at Signicast. Techniques such as 3D printing wax features and running short trials allow teams to validate design changes quickly, solve quality issues, and avoid costly tooling rework. This "fail fast" approach accelerates learning and improves outcomes.

What defects are most common, and how are they prevented?

As a foundry, Signicast is transparent about the realities of casting. The most common issues are small surface inclusions, which are minimized through process controls but cannot be eliminated entirely.

Open communication and expectation-setting with customers are essential to managing these realities and ensuring alignment on quality standards.

How does real-time monitoring prevent defects?

In machining operations, Signicast uses probing, laser measurement, and tool-break detection to identify issues before additional parts are machined. This proactive monitoring prevents scrap of high-value castings and reinforces Signicast's philosophy of prevention rather than detection.

What design features create the most challenges?

Very thin walls and deep blind holes present the greatest challenges, depending on alloy selection. Despite these constraints, Signicast continues to push capability limits, producing parts today that would have been considered impossible a decade ago.

Why is material integrity such a critical trust factor?

Brian compares alloy integrity to filling a prescription — the label means nothing if the contents are wrong. Material integrity is foundational.

To ensure this, Signicast uses spectrometers in every module and performs two chemistry checks per heat. Ingot material is verified against certifications, and scrap-based alloys are tightly controlled. Any material that does not meet requirements is identified early and quarantined or rejected before parts leave the cell.

What inspection technologies does Signicast rely on?

Inspection methods are selected based on customer requirements and application needs, and may include the following:

• X-ray inspection
• Dye penetrant inspection
• Magnetic particle inspection
• Automated camera systems
• Laser inspection
• Resonance inspection
• Blue light scanning
• Coordinate measuring machine (CMM) inspection
• Leak testing, when required

Signicast also places strong emphasis on functional gauging, which aligns with its built-in quality philosophy. Functional gauges allow operators to quickly determine whether a part meets requirements using simple go/no-go checks, without waiting for delayed inspection. This is especially important during overnight operations.

What controls ensure consistency from run to run?

Signicast implements extensive process controls throughout its operation. One notable example is wax injection.

While many foundries use liquid wax for its ease and lower tooling requirements, liquid wax introduces greater thermal variation. Signicast often uses paste wax, which is closer to solid and more dimensionally stable. Although paste wax requires better tooling, higher injection pressures, and more technical effort, it produces more consistent, higher-quality patterns. Signicast intentionally accepts this added complexity to deliver better results.

Are there innovations or proprietary methods that support quality at scale?

Innovation and automation are closely linked at Signicast. A key example is a patented automated wax assembly cell, originally designed with automation in mind.

This system automates the assembly of wax patterns to sprues, supports extremely high-volume production, and has enabled the production of millions of parts. Originally developed as an innovation, this approach now supports scalable automation that increases output while maintaining quality.

What data does Signicast collect, and how is it used?

Signicast uses its ERP system to collect detailed production and quality data, supporting traceability, compliance, and audit readiness particularly for aerospace and defense customers.

Auditors frequently compliment the volume, depth, and accessibility of this data. Looking ahead, Brian highlighted the potential for AI and machine learning to uncover new correlations across process parameters, environmental conditions, chemistry, and furnace data.

Are there misconceptions about investment casting quality?

Many customers misunderstand aspects of the investment casting process, including surface finish expectations, inclusion visibility, weld repair appearance, distortion, and cosmetic standards. These situations often become educational discussions, particularly when acceptance criteria are not clearly defined.

Will Signicast stop production if internal standards are not met?

Yes. Even if parts technically meet print requirements, production may be stopped if they do not meet Signicast's internal standards, particularly for cosmetic parts. Expectations are clarified, escalated when needed, and documented to ensure consistency moving forward.

How does Signicast handle corrective actions?

Corrective actions are scaled based on severity:

• Customer rejections follow a formal, structured problem-solving process

• Internal issues are addressed using proven continuous improvement methods

• Major issues involve dedicated improvement specialists or cross-functional teams

This approach helps ensure each situation gets the right level of attention.

What drives customers to choose Signicast?

Several factors influence customer decisions, including supply chain risk, tariffs, reshoring initiatives, and the desire for dual sourcing or North American suppliers. However, speed consistently stands out as a key differentiator.

Signicast frequently supports customers in urgent situations where timelines are compressed. Brian shared an example involving a recreational vehicle program where an offshore supplier failed. Signicast accelerated development during the holiday season to meet aggressive project deadlines. The success of that program reinforced Signicast's reputation for responsiveness and execution under pressure.

Scalable, High-Quality Manufacturing You Can Trust

Collaboration, speed, and accountability, and collaboration are fundamental to delivering consistent quality. Through early customer involvement, disciplined APQP, robust process controls, and a culture of real-time decision-making, Signicast delivers consistent results in even the most demanding applications.

For customers seeking an investment casting partner that moves quickly, communicates clearly, and builds quality into every step, Signicast delivers confidence from development through production.