Session Chairs

Steve Irwin is a Rolls-Royce Associate Fellow, Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining and Chairman of the EICF. He has been extensively involved in the investment casting of both SX and conventionally cast gas turbine components for the past 25 years. In his current role as Rolls-Royce Casting Specialist, Steve is responsible for the acquisition of a number of process & material technologies across Rolls-Royce’s global network of domestic & JV foundries.

Ron graduated in Chemistry, is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and as Managing Director of The Blayson Group Ltd is responsible for the Company’s global operations and activities. He has over 30 years’ experience within the investment casting industry and has had the privilege of working closely with numerous investment casting associations, institutes and companies Worldwide. He is currently a Board Director of the EICF. Combining these connections with his industry experience, he has been able to present numerous studies and reviews of the World investment casting market to a global audience.

Stephen Pilbury is a sponsored graduate with Rolls Royce 1971-75 with degrees in Physics and Chemistry. He held various roles in the Crewe Investment Foundry Division which following the separation from RR plc became Vickers plc, Vickers Precision Components. During the period 1975-1994 Stephen held the roles of Development Chemist, NDT Manager, Laboratories Manager Foundry and Machining and Plant Manager before leaving in 1994. Also during this time he was company sponsored and gained a DBA and a degree in Occupational Safety and Health. Since 1994 Stephen has been the Managing Director of Dussek Cambell Yates Ltd (then part of Burmah Castrol Speciality Chemicals Division). In 1999 following the acquisition of Remet Corporation, DCY Ltd evolved into Remet UK Ltd. In 2003 Stephen and other partners had the opportunity to acquire the business which they did as Remet Corporation. Remet specialise in the R&D, Manufacture and Sourcing of materials for the Precision Investment Casting market. Stephen completed a degree in Geology in 2015 and have recently started studying bronze & iron age archaeology.

Michael Ruenz is Chief Executive Officer of Deloro Group, a specialist wear solutions company comprising foundries, hot isostatic pressing and coating facilities throughout Europe. Deloro Group is part of Madison Industries, one of Americas largest and most successful privately held companies.
Prior to this position, Mr. Ruenz held various positions in sales and general management roles for Kennametal Inc. in Europe focusing on Kennametal’s wear solutions business.
Before joining Kennametal through a successful exit from a MBO/Private Equity ownership of Deloro Stellite, Mr. Rünz served as Managing Director of Deloro Stellite Holdings GmbH & Co KG, Deloro Stellite GmbH and Hettiger Stellite GmbH and as a management shareholder, was an active part in the sale process and Due Diligence during exit. On the operational side he was responsible for the development of all business aspects of Deloro Stellite Group’s largest business including sales, finance, operations, quality and development and he also oversaw the Group’s businesses in India and Italy which were both set up or acquired during his tenure.
Mr. Rünz was the President and Managing Director of Deloro Stellite Group’s businesses in France (ATS Stellite and ATS Sferic) from 2002 until 2006 and President until the successful exit from this business to Marle/Carlyle in 2011.
Mr. Rünz serves of the Board of Directors of the European Investment Casting Federation since 2004.

Uri Joseph is the CEO of International Precision Casting Supplies, Ltd and its affiliates. IPCS operates as technical agents and distributers of materials specific to the Investment Casting Industry. In this role, Uri manages both the commercial and technical aspects of the business, providing leadership and support for international sales across four continents and overseas offices in the United States and the United Kingdom.
With over 25 years of experience in the Investment Casting industry, Uri has been instrumental in the recommendation and implementation of process and product improvements to IPCS customers worldwide. Uri has an extensive background in the Investment Casting Industry, which offers a unique blend of knowledge in waxes, shell systems and ceramics.

Danilo holds a master degree in Industrial Chemistry with more than 15 years experience of industrial minerals in the refractories, metallurgy, glass, abrasive and foundry industries.He is member of the board of the European Investment Casters’ Federation. He is the author of a large number of papers, presentations and patents on the properties and uses of refractory materials for the moulding process in the Investment Casting Industry.
Since 2014 he is Marketing and Innovation Director of Imerys Refractory Minerals, member of the Imerys group, world leader in the production of highly engineered mineral products for a large number of industrial applications.
In 2005 he has obtained the certificate of “Investment Casting Specialist” issued by the Investment Casting Institute / University of Pittsburgh (USA).

Mathew has worked in the metals industry for over 20 years. He started his career working for Vickers plc and enjoyed time with Ross & Catherall Ltd, Trucast Ltd and Vickers Precision Machining. He has also spent several years working for Sheffield Forgemasters covering large casting and forgings sales before moving to Bradken Pty (Australian based casting group) where he headed up sales for Europe. In 2013 Mathew joined Doncasters Ltd as Divisional Sales Director for Superalloys. Mathew graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering and also holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration and Marketing”

Jean François is Doctor es Sciences Physique Corpusculaire and Engineer by E.N.S.P.M. and graduated in the World Commerce Institute. Most of his professional life has been linked with the study, development and commercialize of premium cast Alloys and super Alloys. Since 1969 he has been associated with Cannon-Muskegon, being Director of CM European Office. In 2008 he founded AMA Services, from which he is Chairman, continuing the cooperation with Cannon-Muskegon.

Virgilio grew up in Southern Germany. After his Diploma in Economic Engineering he moved to Portugal where he entered by chance the exciting world of foundry. After a short transition in an international sandcasting foundry, he joined the German Zollern when they were installing their new investment casting facility in Maia, 10 km north of Porto. He set up the planning and logistics department and in 1993, at the age of 28, he was invited to be plantmanager of the site. Since then he has been responsible for the Portuguese activities, producing automotive and commercial castings in a huge range of air melted alloys, as well as in super alloys casted under vacuum. Virgilio holds a MBA of the Porto Business School and he is Vice Chairman of the EICF being an active board member of the EICF for many years.

Ms. Ane Irazustabarrena. Master of Science. University of Kent (1991). Degree in Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (EHU-UPV) 1991. She works in European Programs in TECNALIA since 1998. She has been involved in the management of large scale collaborative projects linked to the advanced manufacturing technologies for clean production. Coordination of EDEFU FP7 nº 246335 for the design of Ecological furnaces, FOUNDENERGY, FP7 nº 285954 for the Waste Heat Recovery from Foundry sector and EFEVE FP7 nº314582 for the development of new nanoalloyed materials with energy efficient processes. Currently, Director of Public Funding Programmes within the Industry and Transport division. She is involved in the management structure of large initiatives as SPIRE PPP (Chair of Process working group) and EIT Raw Materials (Steering Committee of CLC South). She is member of the EICF Board of Directors since 2016.

John Machielse went to the University of Amsterdam to finish his Master in Chemistry & Catalysis in 1992. In 1994 he finished a post-academic degree in Process Development at the University of Twente and also got his Master in Chemical Engineering. From 1994 until 2003 he was head of the R&D team at Byk-Cera BV, who produces wax additives for the paint & ink industry. After 5 years in marketing & sales in Honeywell’s synthetic wax department, he moved to Paramelt in 2009 to become Business Development manager for investment casting waxes. John Machielse is technically & commercially responsible in the European market for all Paramelt-Argüeso-Kindt Collins waxes related to the Investment casting industry.

Steve completed his PhD at Cambridge University studying the effect of reactive element additions to nickel base superalloys. Returning to the investment casting industry in 2014 as the Technical director of Uni-Pol ltd, a global leader of turbocharger turbine wheel castings. Prior roles were President of the EICF from 2012 – 14, Global supply base manager for turbine and compressor wheel castings at Honeywell Turbo Technologies, Technical Director of Trucast Ltd and Ceramic specialist Manager at Rolls-Royce Plc.Bristol and Derby Uk where he was instrumental in the conversion from alcohol based investment slurries to the current water based systems still used today. Steve has published over 40 papers over the last 28 years and is a current member of the EICF board.