Melt Deck and the Lab
I am coming to you today from the melt deck as I adjust the metallurgical specifications using the new LCM module, Least Cost Mix...
As always, it is hot on the melt deck, especially wearing all of the PPE required. Working up a real sweat adjusting the chemistries and resparking the results on the spectrometer. A rhetorical question, is there anything more important in a metalcasting operation than insuring that the target specifications are spot on? If you are a ductile iron foundry, then you never ever want gray iron to sneak out the door as the results can truly be fatal. A U-Joint or brake caliper on a vehicle could snap if it was gray iron. Trust me, I have seen this happen and fortunately it was not a fatality.
The suite of modules already has the internal workings to support the lab with target specifications, spectrometer automation linkage, tensile testing, physical properties and even formulas for supporting carbon equivalency and much more. As well as this, users are able to pull up casting traceability by heat/batch number as well as serial numbers or unique casting identifiers.
Channel holding furnace. Citation Lufkin Texas Foundries. Serving Osborne and Hunter molding lines. Approx. 1996.
With the addition of the Least Cost Mix module to the software suite with a full interface with the material inventory master file as well as the existing metallurgical support features; metalcasters will now be able to produce the required melt specification at the least cost possible. What the module is all about is being able to specify the target specification and then have the bits and bytes compute the least cost method of achieving the target specification. This computation is based on the material on hand as well as the cost of such material. There are of course various methods of achieving a target specification using varied materials and when doing so, the less cost material should be utilized whenever possible.
Controlling and understanding costs are so important in the metalcasting sector. Being able to reduce costs of a casting whenever possible can make the difference between a “winner” of a casting and a “dog” of a casting profitability wise. When I was at the foundry, we had a report that was generated and listed a breakdown of the castings by profitability and “dog” was actually a category, meaning, we were losing money on this casting. In dealing with high-volume molding operations, having too many “dogs” was a catastrophe on the P&L. “Dogs” were often the result of bundled quotes of when an OEM or tiered supplier would submit a “package” of castings for consideration. Strict attention to contract details and projected volumes is critical in dealing with bundled packages as it may be acceptable to have some low volume dog castings when coupled with high volume “winner” castings. Unfortunately, dog castings often masquerade as low volume when in fact they become high volume.
Look for the Least Cost Mix module to be generally available by the end of November 2017!
Until next time, see you on down the road and above all, be safe.
Shane Allen
Head of SYNCHRO ERP North American Operations
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