Archive for August, 2009
A time of unmatched opportunity
I am the General Manager of Castool Tooling Systems, a manufacturer located on the outskirts of Uxbridge, Canada that services the global aluminum extrusion and die cast industries.
It is not that I have my head in the sand. Being in manufacturing, I know how challenging the business environment is. We are paying the price for an era when financial engineering counted more than breakthrough products and services. We were deluded by unsustainable growth figures and lost track of our long-term priorities.
Just now, following the recent economic meltdown, our economy, our productivity and our lifestyle, are all in the process of being reset. Industry cannot ignore this fact. We must accept it, and adjust to a new and much more challenging business environment for the foreseeable future.
I believe that we are entering a period of unprecedented and virtually unlimited opportunity for our industry as well as others. Automakers throughout the world are urgently redesigning and retooling to produce smaller, lighter vehicles that will cost less, and use less fuel. The fact that if the weight of a vehicle is reduced by 10%, the fuel consumption is reduced by 6-8% means that the strength to weight ratio of steel, plastic and aluminum for every component of these new models is now being carefully compared. This will inevitably result in a much increased demand for aluminum product. There is also an additional factor involved in this equation.
A critical but as yet seldom articulated factor in the future use of aluminum products is the influence of ‘Generation Jones’. This is a term used to describe the generation of people born between 1954 and 1965, right after the well-known post-war ‘Baby Boomers’ who dominated our culture for so long. Just now, Generation Jones, aged 45 – 55 has a commanding presence in both industry and politics.
More than a quarter of all adults in North America and Western Europe are Jonesers. To date they have been a largely anonymous generation, but with some consistent and clearly defined characteristics. For our industry, the most important of these is a strong sense of responsibility for the protection of our global environment. With regard to the use of aluminum in the automotive sector, for example, to a Joneser the fact that a lighter car using less fuel produces less greenhouse gas emission, is almost as important as its reduced cost of operation. He will also be attracted by the recyclable potential of aluminum product. All of this influences the Joneser’s support of anything that will increase the profitable use of aluminum.
The best time ever for industry to improve their productivity and profit is now. The opportunity is immediate.
The one undisputable truth is that only creativity and aggressive innovation will fuel a turn around. The Chinese symbol for change is in-fact two symbols, risk and opportunity. Change does not arrive via miracle. It requires a kick-start.
Adversity taps our strength. Too often, we retrench or maintain, when what we actually need to do is stretch.
There are only two ways to grow. Take inventory of what you’re good at and extend out from your skills OR determine what your customer needs and work backwards, even if it requires learning new skills. It is probably prudent to do both.
Change can start with small measures, and it can be rewarded with small prizes. I read this example the other day. Toyota receives 1.5 million employee suggestions every year. The employee with the single best idea gets a fountain pen! Lehman Brothers (who just went bankrupt), on the other hand, gave out million dollar bonuses.
“The future does not play favorites. It has no winners or losers. It has no trends, business channels, or emerging markets. Because the future has not happened yet, it is a blank sheet, a clean slate, and uncharted. How will we shape it? Together, we can create the future.”
There are opportunities around us. Very few are taking them. Let’s get creative and aggressive, and build Uxbridge’s future.
The market has been reset. Yesterday the choice was cheaper or better. There is no longer a choice. Today the product must be cheaper and better. It will never return to the standards of quality, service and price that were acceptable in the past, but the technology is rapidly improving to meet this challenge.
The market is there. The improved technology is available. The time is now.
Total Control Quench for Hard Alloys
Most of the components of the extrusion production process have evolved and improved over time. However, one essential but often taken for granted part of the extrusion process appears to be lagging, It is the quench.
Most quenches in use today are still basically unchanged from those used by the average extruder 25 years ago. Fans simply blow ambient air, or a shower of water floods the extrusion, or both. .
There is a better way.
In accordance with Castool’s commitment to raise the bar, and bring extrusion to a new level, a new PLC controlled, shape dependant, Total Control Quench for hard alloys is now in the final stages of development and field trials.
It will soon be on the market.
The quench is an important operation that must be carried out to precise limits if optimum results are to be obtained. The objective of the quench is to ensure that the dissolved constituents in the alloy remain in solution down to room temperature. The quench must therefore safely and precisely cool the profile within a fixed period of time, without limiting ram speed in any way, and without causing any shape, dimension, or surface problems in the profile.
The new Castool Total Control Quench will have several cooling zones, depending on the work load, and the ability of each to extract the heat at a sufficient rate to achieve the required results from the most convoluted profile.
It features atomized water mist as one of its 3 coolants, and rings of manifolds delivering coolant from every side.
Atomization refers to the process of breaking up bulk liquids into minute droplets. Castool has chosen Air as its means of atomizing water
The energy source for air atomization is air-pressure. Castool regulates the rate of water flow independently of the air pressure in the manifold. The water leaves each atomizing nozzle at a comparatively low speed, and is surrounded by a high speed stream of air. Friction between the air and the water accelerates and disperses the fluid stream. This causes atomization of the water..
The Castool TC Quench controls and balances the rate of flow of the water and the air pressure, producing a unique coolant that effectively penetrates the invisible thermal barrier of superheated air which cloaks the profile after it leaves the die.
Each ring of atomizing nozzles consists of 4 manifolds, top, bottom, left and right. Each manifold has 3 rows of nozzles each controlled by a solenoid. Each bank of manifolds therefore has 12 rows of nozzles that can be individually controlled, depending on the shape being cooled. In most cases, there will be 2 to 4 rings of atomizing manifolds.
When flooding is required, separate rings of flooding manifolds will be positioned after the atomization manifolds. Each flooding manifold will be controlled by a solenoid.
The workload is determined by shape of the profile, weight per foot, surface area, type of alloy, extrusion speed, and product function.
The extruder will be able to control the air pressure and the water flow, and thus the precise rate of cooling that will maximize the strength of the section. The quench will be custom designed and fabricated to suit the press.
In accordance with standard Castool policy, every effort has been made to make it easy for the extruder to install and to effectively use the new quench.
The Castool Total Control Quench cools from up to 12 individually controllable sources surrounding the profile to ensure that optimum results are obtained from the particular alloy being used for a specific profile.
It brings the light metal extrusion quench into the 21st century.
Yes, there really is a better way.
My first Blog with Castool
Hi everyone and welcome to my first blog with Castool.
As Product Manger for Die Cast Tooling at Castool, I would like to start by saying how excited I am about the future of our industry. We have been working hard these last few months bringing new technologies to existing, as well as new customers, and the outcome has been very rewarding. I truly believe we all need to use the latest technology in our toolbox to compete in the future. Knowing how important lowering scrap, increasing up-time and maximizing the performance of the tooling will enable our customer to be profitable in the future we have set our goals to help them achieve this.
I will do my best to keep everyone ‘up to date’ on our experiences and look forward to any suggestions or comments.
Dave Purdy
The Die Heating System with Robotic Die Expediting (RDX)
The RDX complements existing press practices.
Once a number of functions in the extrusion process have been digitized to enable visual optimization and a production formula, this also enables a robotic system to expedite the scheduling, movement and heating of a die from the time of its arrival from the die shop to installation on the press.
Although the die will be heated and moved according to a prepared formula, the press operator will continue to have complete control, and make all necessary decisions during every step in the process. As with the Visual Optimizer, the RDX system is a new and useful tool, designed to assist the operator in improving productivity. Here’s how it works.
The die man brings the die and places it in an empty cradle. The die will remain in its cradle until it is placed in the die slide.
Using the key punch, the operator enters the die number. If there is an existing production formula from the Visual Optimizing System, it will be activated. If not, the operator will prepare an initial formula and activate it.
The die is automatically moved into the scheduling area by a gantry robot.
The operator chooses which die is to be placed in an empty die oven. The robot places the die in the oven where it is heated to the temperature required by the formula.
When the operator requests the next die to be run, the robot moves the die from the oven to a heated holding area. A bolster may also be requested if necessary.
When the operator moves the die from its cradle to the die slide, the empty cradle is returned to the die loading area.
How not to act old?
I plan to post a blog, Monday thru Friday. I will post a mixture of philosophy, technical revelations, and bits of information that I have picked up or read that I think will interest you?
Today’s is just something that I read over the weekend, that i found interesting/amusing/informative.
How not to act old?
1) Unstrap the Rolex. It is not that it is expensive, bourgeois or that it makes you look over-satisfied, it is just that you are wearing a watch at all. Young people check their cell phones, a naked wrist is in.
2) Do not leave voice messages. The person you are calling will see your number in their missed calls, and reach out if they want or need to talk. If it’s urgent, send a text.
3) Do not spout any history. We like history because it makes us feel (erroneously) that there is something interesting or valuable about things that took place a long time ago, when in fact there is not.
“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”
If you have not started, it is time to start getting your company fit, if you hope to remain competitive. If you are not careful, your company will become victims of its own inability to change, and will be overtaken by more adaptive companies ready to seize new opportunities.
“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” A recession can be an opportunity to restructure. It also may give you a temporary reprieve from investors’ expectations of higher profits, allowing you to invest the time, effort and capital necessary for long term success.
You should resist hasty head-count reductions, because they can impair your company’s long-term performance.
Upper management is responsible to motivate and to create a vision of the future. An atmosphere of hope must exist.
10 Commandments for Entrepreneurs (Good Managers)
1) Make products mean something more than the sum of their components. Most companies founded to make money fail.
2) Keep it short and define yourself by what you want to mean to your customers. “Castool makes extrusion and die cast better”.
3) Instead of just trying to stay ahead of your competitors, find a way to leap ahead.
4) Roll the dice.
5) Be crappy, innovations do not have to be perfect.
6) Be ugly to some people and cool to others.
7) Bring as many innovations to market as possible. You never know which will bloom, or when.
8) Listen to feedback always and continually improve your products.
9) Create a separate niche for high value offerings.
10) Never use more than 10 slides or 20 minutes, and use 30-point font.
Sticking with the Basics
After Traveling for a couple days and discussing our new technology, it is easy to forget why it all works together. Because it ‘all works together‘!
If we consistantly stick with the basics and get the sleeve well designed with the proper thermal control for part being produced, the rest of the system technology can really perform. Thermal alignment is still one of the most significant parts the die cast system. Especially, because parts are becoming bigger and are being produced at a faster rate we can no longer overlook its importance.
Once the sleeve system is stable, the tip system system can then operate to its maximum potential, we can use the least amount of lubrication and vacuum can pull to it maximum effect.
I will continue to talk about the complete system later, but this is a reminder, even to myself, that if we take care of the basic fundamentals first, apply a little technology, we can be successful in producing great parts.
Just about to catch a flight, to be continued…..
My Blackberry Broke
What do you mean, my Blackberry won’t work?
The immediate stress of trying unsuccessfully to fix it has subsided.
I sort of feel unburdened. We all know that Blackberries can distract us from work. There is a growing awareness that these technologies fill our days with interruptions that, while work-related, prevent us from thinking carefully for any unbroken stretch of time.
Some companies are setting aside 20% of the workweek to allow their employees to work on ideas.
People like to be busy, and some people measure their business by how many of these interruptions they get!
There is a difference between looking busy and being productive. Employees on average check their email 30 to 40 times each hour, according to a study.
The problem with constant interruptions is that multitasking does not work.It has been proven that the time cost of switching tasks, are very significant. It also hurts our ability to remember and learn.
Maybe we are wasting a lot of each other’s time and, more importantly, we are not actually communicating?
Better Extrusion (or Die Cast) is my personal preoccupation.
No matter what the title of my presentation is, I always talk about the same thing. BETTER EXTRUSION or DIE CASTING!
In this case, I am relating to extrusion but the maxim is the same for die cast.
Better extrusion is the slogan of my company, Castool.
Better extrusion is my personal preoccupation.
And as I’ve repeated many times, better extrusion is not accomplished simply by better equipment, it’s done by better extruders, often assisted by constantly evolving upgraded production equipment.
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Anything that can be measured can be improved.
This old maxim is as true for the process of light metal extrusion as it is for any other process. In fact, the mere act of regularly and accurately measuring, recording, and displaying the results can be almost guaranteed to ensure some improvement in productivity, because close attention is being focused on the critical factors that affect the measured results, and the extent of their affect is being quantified
Few extruders really know with much accuracy how their performance compares with that of others. Here are a few estimated figures which reflect information gained from a large number of extruders in several countries over a number of years.
Originally I compared an average extruder with a good extruder, and then with the few large Superextruders. Today, however, last year’s average extruder is quite likely no longer with us, or has by necessity become a good extruder, and so we’re left with just two approximate levels of productivity for comparison.
Assuming a 20 cm billet, and 6063 alloy, a good extruder will produce about 2040 kg of net product per manned hour, and a Superextruder about 2404 kg. This is an increase of about 18% in productivity, but actually a very considerable increase in profitability. Because all overheads are already covered, the increase in total selling price less only the increase in cost of material used becomes added net profit.
Ram speed will be increased from 66 to 74 cm/min Contact Efficiency when the ram is actually pushing billet is increased from 62 to 65%,. and Net Recovery 81.5 to 83%.
In considering the real worth of any component of the production process, it is important to estimate its affect on ram speed, contact efficiency, and net recovery. If the extruder doesn’t clearly measure results in this way, it is virtually impossible for the press operator to improve productivity.
However, no new innovative product, should ever replace an experienced and talented press operator. Any good operator should always have complete control of his production system.
