Materials Engineering

Fall 2015

Seminar Series

Robert Hull

B. S. Metallurgical Engineering, Purdue 1965; MBA, Univ. of Michigan 1967.

Employed: John Deere, Moline, IL 1967 - 1975; Accurate Castings Inc., La Porte, IN. 1975 - 2005.

Currently Partner in Accurate Castings Inc. and Aurora Metals LLC, Montgomery, IL

Robert Hull is semi-retired and is here to give you suggestions on how to achieve career paths and what helped him. He will talk about Accurate and Aurora with descriptions about their foundry processes, metals cast and the materials' properties, and machining processes for these materials from his experience with machine shops and former partnership with Busche Machine in Albion, IN.

Robert A. Hull received his Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Purdue University in 1965 and an MBA from the University of Michigan. In 1975, after working as an Engineering Supervisor at John Deere for 7.5 years, Robert went to work for Kingsbury Castings (which along with Accurate Castings, falls under the umbrella of Hiler Industries), a foundry that his father co-founded with Robert Hiler Sr.in 1969.  He quickly became Plant Superintendent after spending many hours working on set-ups, molding, and pouring to learn every aspect of the foundry business.

Robert played an integral role in implementing the technology improvements that came with the addition of ductile iron, which was developed in the late 1940’s as a stronger, more versatile alternative to gray iron. In the early 1970’s, Kingsbury Casting was producing both gray and ductile iron, but by 1978 they began to focus exclusively on Ductile Iron. Robert played a major role in insuring that Hiler Industries remained at the forefront of technology as the industry advanced over the next 30 years. Today the US produces more tons of Ductile Iron castings than Gray Iron castings.

In 1982, Robert was promoted to Vice President. Under his leadership, Kingsbury Castings was one of the first foundries in the US to use the Shell Mold Process invented by J. Croning of Germany during WWII. Robert used his knowledge of foundry tooling to head up the company’s efforts in the area of tooling production, and today, Kingsbury Castings is the largest and only foundry in the country producing Ductile Iron using the Shell Mold Process exclusively.

Later in his career Robert was given management responsibility for both of Hiler Industries foundries: Kingsbury Castings which produces Ductile Iron Shell Mold castings and Accurate Castings which produces Gray Iron Shell Mold castings as well as other specialty irons.

Robert retired in 2005, and still serves on the Board of Directors of Hiler Industries. As a leader in adopting new casting technologies and implementing them successfully in industry, Robert has had a significant impact as bringing innovation to the field, serving both commercial and military customers with a wide range of products. He has been active in, and ensured Hiler was active in, supporting professional societies and commercial consortiums, such as AFS and the Indiana Cast Metals Association.

Friday, October 9
3:30pm Coffee
3:45pm Seminar
ARMS 1010

Stacey Coar

Secretary/Development Assistant

School of Materials Engineering

Purdue University

Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering

701 West Stadium Ave. Room 2300

West Lafayette, IN 47907

765-494-4100

scoar@purdue.edu