David Moodie Is Making Metal Casting As Easy As Using A (Very Complicated) Microwave

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David Moodie Is Making Metal Casting As Easy As Using A (Very Complicated) Microwave

How FoundryLab is taking the 8,000-year-old technology and making it better, more repeatable, and more accessible with machines that could sit in a factory of any size. Ep. 10

Mar 11, 2025

Transcript

🎙️ David Moody, founder of Foundry Lab, joins Tool or Die to discuss how he’s reinventing metal casting with a digitized, tooling-free process that could reshape U.S. manufacturing. We dig into why casting is one of the four most critical industries identified by the White House for reshoring, the shortage of skilled workers, and why his New Zealand-born startup is moving to the U.S. to support defense and industrial manufacturing.

TIMESTAMPS:

• 00:00 Introduction

• 03:10 What is metal casting, and why has it changed so little in 8,000 years?

• 08:40 How Foundry Lab’s casting process eliminates expensive tooling

• 14:00 The shortage of skilled workers in U.S. foundries

• 19:30 How digitizing casting could revolutionize defense and manufacturing

• 26:20 Moving Foundry Lab to the U.S. and working with the DoD

• 34:50 How microwave-based metal heating changes the game

• 40:30 The reshoring debate—is America serious about rebuilding manufacturing?

• 48:20 Why traditional investors don’t understand casting (but should)

Key Topics:

• Why casting is critical to U.S. manufacturing and defense

• How Foundry Lab’s technology removes the need for traditional casting molds

• The huge workforce gap in casting and why automation matters

• The role of microwave-based casting and material science innovations

• Why the U.S. is aggressively pushing for reshoring, and how New Zealand sees it

• The future of metal casting—from prototyping to full-scale production

👉 Follow: https://x.com/FoundryLab_

Website: foundrylab.com

TOOL OR DIE is produced by Johnson & Roy (Johnson-Roy.com), a strategic advisory firm specializing in technology, mobility, manufacturing, and robotics. Your hosts are Joel Johnson, a former technology journalist and media executive who pioneered brands like Gizmodo, Jalopnik, and Wirecutter, and Alex Roy, a General Partner at New Industry Venture Capital (NIVC.us) known for breaking the Cannonball Run record and his work in autonomous vehicles.