Ashland Casting Solutions, announced the opening of its Design Services Center at the company's headquarters in Dublin. The center is a "one-stop shop" for the metalcasting industry, will provide support from engineered drawings through casting and testing in Ashland's design-to-manufacture process.

The Design Services Center is staffed by engineers dedicated to meeting the needs of the complex and the metalcasting industry. It offers the latest technologies and technical support to help customers optimize casting designs and processes to increase productivity and profitability.

Using several software programs, Ashland is able to produce animated simulations of sand core blowing and gassing processes; determine the mold gating and risering required to optimize mold filling; and validate the casting design and predict and eliminate defects.

"Our Design Services Center team works to provide the total solution from concept to completion," said Mike Swartzlander, vice president, Ashland Specialty Chemical, ageneral manager, Ashland Casting Solutions. "Working with customers from engineered drawings through casting and testing, we have the unique ability to make their processes more