The fact that they've gotten into permanent mold castings is another good sign. Permanent molds cost a lot more and the equipment to support them even more so, but the quality is much higher and repeatability is greater which makes thinner walls and precision geometry much easier to produce. Overseas suppliers have been doing permanent molds exclusively for a while now, and that makes it tough to justify paying more for a domestic product that is made using a cheaper/inferior approach. The drawback is that smaller portions of the market, like Mopar parts, probably don't make sense to invest in permanent molds because the return on investment would be measured in lifetimes.
Bad operators can screw up any casting though, and the QC process needs to focus on features that are critical to the end use. I've watched forgings and castings get setup on datums that center meaningless features while ignoring the important bits. Imagine centering an intake on the thermostat housing, and letting the ports/carb base be 1/2" off! I've seen that kind of crap before and it's frustrating.
