Today's Wall Street Journal report on private-equity investment in metalcasting companies treats the subject as though it were a new development, a trend. I don't know about that. It seems to me that I've written about private equity several times in the past four or five years, or more: it's simply not possible to follow the changes in ownership, the bankruptcies and reorganizations in metalcasting over the past decade, without recognizing the role of private-equity investment.

So, the general thesis is deceiving. But, the report is well worth your time because it sketches the logic and challenges of the consolidation now ongoing in the metalcasting industry. It's a consolidation that almost everyone recognized would happen, but no one could accurately time. The private-equity investors are confident they are timing it right.

The money has to come from some place; if past owners or investors could have made the investments in new equipment and technology, surely they would have done so. And, their expectation of return on their investment may have been more lenient than private-equity investors are alleged to be — but perhaps that eagerness for a return is why they have the money now to make these investments.

Where the money comes from is not important. How it's invested is critical to everyone.