Castool Community

1. Be independent of the good opinion of others. Do what you feel is right.

2. Ask for help.

3. Do not compare yourself with others.

4. Curb your need for more.

5. Live in the present.

6. Be open to input from others.

Why you should read this post

By definition, a system is a set of interrelated parts forming a complex whole.  The die cast production process is a system.  Unfortunately it is too often not treated as one.  As a result, its real capability is seldom fully utilized.  Maximum productivity is rarely   achieved. The procurement department plays a major role in any company. What follows is a description of how they can best fit a die cast operation.

If one part of a process performs a function that is unaffected by any other parts, its operation can be usefully studied, and its efficiency measured.  If, however, two or more components work together to perform a single function, none can be effectively studied and measured alone.  All must be considered together, as their individual functions are inseparably combined in joint interaction.  This is the essence of the Systems Approach to aluminum die casting.

A die caster using the Systems Approach never considers the action of any single element of his production process by itself, but always along with its interaction with one or more other parts of the process.

This Systems Approach of action plus interaction is based on the fact that die casting is really a holistic process.  No single part of the process operates in isolation.  The overall system is in fact made up of a succession of mini-systems, each overlapping.  Maximum productivity therefore can never be approached unless all components of the system not only work well, but also work very closely together.

CLOSING THE STRATEGY – PERFORMANCE GAP

Most companies have a long-term corporate plan, usually for a five-year period.  This plan states the company’s objectives at the end of each fiscal year in the planning period.  It also delineates the strategies that will be used to achieve them.  The annual goals are not usually simply a projection of previous years’ results, but are, or should be, based on a realistic estimate of the potential market and of the company’s real capability.

A recent survey has shown, however, that about one third of all companies fail to achieve the results they originally anticipated. The long-term corporate plan commonly predicts considerable annual improvements, but the actual results are too often just an extrapolation of past performance, and the increases are incremental.

It is significant that the survey also found that the reason why so many companies fall short of their long-term commitment is seldom the result of a faulty strategy . . . it is nearly always because of poor execution of a good strategy.  For example, one of a die caster’s strategies to meet his goal of increased productivity could be, ‘To control the thermal and therefore the dimensional stability of shot-end components.’  As a strategy, this cannot be faulted.  Successfully implementing it is the challenge.

There are a number of reasons why so many companies fail to take advantage of the opportunities they now have to achieve an appreciable improvement in their productivity.  Likely the most common of these is the fact that die casting is traditionally a very conservative industry.  Change is not readily accepted.  The result is what could be called the “This is how we’ve always done it.” syndrome.  The problem with this is that if you keep doing the same thing the same way, you will very likely keep getting the same results.

These same results may be satisfactory during a period when there is little change in either the available market or in die casting technology, but now both are improving, and past performance is often no longer acceptable.

The Systems Approach is now being successfully used by many leading light metal die casters.  Its benefits are proven and irrefutable.  Some production managers are still reluctant to adopt it, not because they doubt the advantages of this method, but often because they may have little personal incentive to make any major change in their approach to the production process.  In time, however, the logic and the success of the Systems Approach will almost certainly result in its broad acceptance by the die casting industry. Its effective use can be guaranteed to appreciably close the strategy – performance gap . .  by better die casting.

MEASURING AND BENCHMARKING

The very first step toward better productivity is measuring and benchmarking.  It has been proven repeatedly that the mere fact of regularly and accurately measuring and recording all aspects of the production process ensures better results, because attention is drawn to areas of opportunity, especially where components are interacting, and the result can be measured.

INTERACTION OF PLUNGER TIP AND SHOT SLEEVE

Consider the action and interaction of some of the components of an aluminum die casting system.  Perhaps the most critical is the interaction of the plunger tip and the shot sleeve.  Unless each is operating at close to optimum efficiency, the operating life of both will be substantially reduced.

Four thousandths of an inch is the maximum allowable gap between the plunger tip and the shot sleeve during the casting process.  If at any time during the shot, the gap exceeds 0.004”, the alloy is likely to penetrate the space, and flash or blow-by will occur. The abrasion of the alloy will soon cause excessive wear on both the shot sleeve and the plunger tip.

If the gap becomes too much less than 0.004”, there is a danger of interference and inconsistent shot velocity.  Scrap will result.  It is essential, therefore, that a gap that is never more than four thousandth of an inch be maintained at all times during the casting cycle.

THERMAL EXPANSION OF PLUNGER TIP AND SHOT SLEEVE.

When metal is heated, it expands.  If both the shot sleeve and the plunger remained at a constant temperature, maintaining a consistent gap between them that will leave a thin film of aluminum in the shot sleeve, but not allow blow-by, would be no problem. However, when molten alloy at about 1300ºF is poured into the shot sleeve, then pushed out the other end, unless effectively controlled, the temperature of both the plunger tip and the shot sleeve will increase considerably, and they will expand.

If the ID of the shot sleeve is no greater than about three inches, the potential problem is minimal, and can likely be ignored.  The coefficient of thermal expansion, however, is a constant.  The same increase in temperature of a six-inch shot sleeve, for example, will cause it to expand twice as much as a three-inch sleeve.  The market for larger light metal castings is increasing.  Shot sleeves are getting bigger, but whatever the size of the sleeve, that maximum allowable gap of four thousandths of an inch unfortunately remains unchanged.

FROM LOWEST PRICE TO ADDED VALUE

Only few years ago, the main thrust of most die caster’s purchasing department was simply cost reduction for individual products.   Now their greatest challenge is capturing real value from the supply market.  Finding the lowest price for each component has been replaced by reducing the total spent for a group of related products over time.  This represents a major advance in understanding the real potential of professional purchasing.  The best procurement managers now deliver measurable value.  They are partnering with suppliers that are proven innovators, and whose corporate philosophy is to make die casting better by adding value rather than cutting costs.

Finding the lowest price for each component has been replaced by reducing the total spent for a group of related products over time.

When using advanced techniques, it is also important to ensure that savings are realized, not just identified.  Leading die casters have IT systems that track and report results achieved rather than benefits identified.

The best customer-supplier relationship is built on trust.  One company defines this as “The belief that those on whom we depend will consistently meet our expectations.”

SUMMARY

The Systems Approach is based on the fact that no single part of the die cast production system operates alone.  All parts interact with others.  Accordingly, maximum productivity can never be approached unless all components work well, and work closely together.

Using the Systems Approach effectively requires a change in attitude for many die casters.  The, ‘This is how we’ve always done it.’ mind-set is no longer acceptable in a competitive market.

A vital interaction is between the plunger tip and the shot sleeve.  Since each has a different coefficient of thermal expansion, and the gap between them must remain relatively constant to prevent either penetration of the alloy or inconsistent shot velocity, effective management of their thermal and dimensional stability is essential.

Porosity is the principal cause of rejected castings.  It can be prevented by an effective vacuum system.  A good vacuum, however, depends on good interaction between plunger tip and shot sleeve.

Lubrication reduces wear of both tip and sleeve.  Boron Nitride in either liquid or powder form is just now the best lubricant for the die casting system, but its effectiveness depends on the method of application.

The priority of the procurement department of leading die casters is no longer to shop for the best price of individual components, but to reduce the total spent for a number of related products over time.  In addition, they are partnering with suppliers who concentrate on adding real value to their products rather than reducing their cost.

The Systems Approach, plus the added value approach to purchasing, is now used by many world-class die casters.  If used effectively and consistently, increased productivity will inevitably result . . from better die casting.

My thoughts on product development!

1) Is it functional? Function should always determine its design.

2) Is it multifunctional? Why buy 2 pieces when one will do the work of both? We want to outfit our customers from top to bottom. This is part of our bond with the customer. It is also part of our credibility with our customer.

3) Is it durable? The over-all durability of a product is only as good as its weakest element. There is always going to be a need for repairs, and we make sure that they are possible.

4) Does it fit our customer?

5) Is it as simple as possible? The functional driven design is usually minimalist. Good design is as little design as possible! Complexity is often a sure sign that the functional needs have not been solved. Once you lose the discipline of functionality as a guidepost, the imagination goes amok. Once you design a monster, it tends to look like one too.

6) Is the product line simple? People have too many choices. They are tired of constantly having to make decisions, particularly when it takes a major effort to make intelligent  decisions. The best-performing firms make a narrow range of products very well. The best firms’ products also use up to 50% fewer parts than those made by their less successful rivals. Fewer parts mean a faster, simpler (and usually cheaper) manufacturing process. Fewer parts mean less to go wrong: quality comes built in.

7) Is it innovation or an invention?  It is best to design and sell products so good and unique that they have no competition. Successful invention requires a tremendous amount of energy, time and money. Innovation can be achieved much more quickly because you already start with an existing product idea or design. Some companies are based on having proprietary designs and patents, but far more successful ones are based on innovation.

8) Is it a global design? You’ll never know if you are making the best products in the world until they’re sold and used all over the globe.

9) Is it easy to care for? Maintenance of any product is a chore, and for that reason alone, low maintenance becomes a criterion for high quality.

Joseph A Schumpeter wrote in 1942, “creative destruction” shakes loose people from old, dying businesses and forces them to figure out new ways to be useful.

Hilary Eledu wrote, “Bad news is good news for the prepared”.

Michael Rude wrote, There’s no better way to stoke pessimism than by firing a lot of people. From our perspective, any kind of layoff is a sign of mismanagement”.

Theilmann wrote, “You have to tell people ahead of time what you are going to do and not to do. The last thing we want is our people walking around in a fog not knowing what’s going to happen. We want our people focused on our customers”.

As we approach the third millennium, forecasting the future seems to have become a popular pastime.  For anyone in the aluminum extrusion industry, however, accurate forecasting just now is a business imperative.  In fact, for many it is essential for survival.  It is only by accurately anticipating what lies ahead, that extruders can be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities, and maximize their profit.  As the leading supplier of extrusion and die cast tooling, our company’s philosophy is “Our success depends on the success of our customers”.  We therefore certainly have a vested interest in the future of our industry.

An Industry in Transition

Just now, a restructuring of the extrusion industry is taking place in North America, and in several other parts of the world.  The industry is undergoing a major consolidation.  Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, large multi-plant and even multi-national extrusion companies have been forming and growing at a rapidly accelerating rate.  Directly or indirectly, this change will benefit us all.  As these large companies compete with each other, they must become increasingly efficient and more productive.  They will use the most sophisticated production technology available.  Aluminum will become even more competitive with steel.

An Increasing Market.

For a number of years, the market for aluminum extrusions hasn’t grown too dramatically.  In some sectors, it has actually shrunk.  In North America, for example, a traditional market used to be the aluminum window and door industry.  Over time, most of this market has been lost to PVC.

On the other hand, the best news in years for aluminum extruders is that the automotive industry is just now anxious to replace steel with aluminum wherever it possibly can justify it.  There are now actually few components of a car or truck where steel cannot be replaced by aluminum.  Some aluminum alloys are as strong as steel, and weigh only a third as much.  That is what is making the substitution so attractive to auto makers.  They are competing to reduce the weight of their vehicles and thus reduce their rate of fuel consumption.

Considering the huge potential of this market, increased use of aluminum in the automotive sector is bound to have a major impact on the extrusion industry.

Improved Technology

The press alignment is easily and quickly confirmed by using an alignment tool stack.  When the die has been finalized, it is brought to a uniform operating temperature in a high-speed single cell die oven.  If a thin walled hollow section with extremely tight tolerances is being made, an exclusive extended mandrel die is used.  It has a secondary truing bearing that brings the extrusion well within the required tolerances while still at forming temperature.

This ideal extrusion is not just a goal of the future.  It is possible now, with proven technology that is currently in use.

The Future

The future of our industry is bright.  The market for aluminum extrusions is increasing.  The technology to make our industry even more competitive in the world market is already available.  But it must be used. Even a dummy block, which performs all of its functions effectively and efficiently, can make a difference to the rate of production of any extruder. The measurable improvement in productivity directly dependent on each component may be small but they all impact directly on profit. Few extruders can afford to ignore the importance of new die designs, dummy blocks, die ovens, containers, alignment tool stacks, and measurement and control instrumentation.  The technology is here now.  The goal is attainable.

At a trade show recently I was approached by a salesman who said that he would like to represent my company.  He had been selling for a number of years, and seemed to know the extrusion industry fairly well.  I asked him what he did on a typical day.

“Well, I get off to an early start in the morning, load up with donuts, and soon after eight I’m making my first call.  I take in a few boxes of donuts, and my customers always find time to have a cup of coffee with me.”

He said he repeated this four or five times each day, five days a week.  His customers would usually tell him if they were having any problems with his products, but mostly they discussed sports.   His customers were very loyal, he said, and welcomed his calls.

I don’t doubt this.  People often continue to buy because of relationships, but they should also be very certain that they are getting the best available product…the best technology, quality, and service.

This salesman just hasn’t changed with the times.  Today, the extrusion industry is too competitive for this kind of representation.  His customer is not getting the technical advice and assistance it deserves.  His company is not getting the feedback it needs to best serve its customer.  If you continue to buy from a supplier primarily because you like the salesman, you may have a problem.

The extrusion manager of a fairly large company wants to try our dummy block.  He thinks that it may improve his production and save him money.  Unfortunately he can’t.   His boss has a close personal relationship with the representative of his current suppler, and won’t even consider changing.

This company is missing the chance to evaluate competitive products.  It is not even aware of the savings which may result from recent technological advances.  It’s present supplier has less incentive to improve its product, and is also vulnerable to any future change of personnel in its customer’s organization.

What then is the real function of today’s salesman?

The salesman’s first job, of course, is to make the prospective buyer aware of the benefits of his company’s products and services.  The salesman must be credible, and the benefits compelling enough to overcome any perceived risks associated with changing suppliers.  This is best done by referrals to other extruders who use his products. An outstanding product, properly presented, will sell itself.  Dies sell dies.  Tools sell tools.  Of course you can’t really know how well any product will work for you until you try it in your own plant.

Once the initial order has been received, the salesman’s  priorities change.  He must now establish and maintain a close and ongoing association between his new client and the supplier he represents.  He must ensure that supplier and customer become partners in technology.  Without this partnership, the extruder may be denied knowledge of the industry.  Without regular feedback from the user, the supplier cannot upgrade its products to reflect changing needs, and to further benefit its clients.

What kind of information should extruders be getting from suppliers?  A good example might be with regard to container replacement and relines…

Perhaps you are sending your container drawings to a shop which has been building and relining containers for you for the past twenty years.  You may be specifying materials which are inadequate, or inferior to those now available.

Materials have changed, machining technology has changed, and the knowledge and understanding of the extrusion process are constantly changing.  Through their salesman, your container supplier should be providing you with profitable information and advice…

The salesman should be there to assist the extruder when he is using a new product for the first time, to ensure that it is being used properly, that all recommended procedures and cautions are being observed, and that maximum productivity is achieved.

Why is better press utilization . . . reduction of press time per order . . . so vital to success?

The importance of keeping the press running, and producing good product reflects added value per press hour.  Basically, an extruder is a converter.  He takes a material (alloy) in one form (billets) and converts it to another form (extrusions).  In doing this, he adds value.  This added value is really what he is selling.

This is the amount of money actually generated every hour while your press is in operation.

Why is better press utilization … the reduction of press time per order … so vital to success?  The problem is that all costs in the entire plant, except material, continue if a press is stopped, (or producing scrap,) during a working shift.  Even direct labor which is usually considered a variable expense and applied only during actual production, is in fact fixed, in the context of press downtime.  If the press is stopped for an hour, the operator is still paid.

Your added value per press hour can easily be calculated and that is just part of the total cost of press down time.

For any extruder who is running out of time to make a profit, improving press efficiency and the utilization of press time must be his first priority.  Nothing else is nearly as important.

The die is the heart of the extrusion process.  Everything depends on the die . . . . dimensional integrity, finish, press speed, scrap rate, downtime . . . all of these are a function of the die . . . and all affect press time.

The best companies in the industry involve their suppliers in their goals.  They provide exceptional feedback.  They also demand exceptional service…and they get it. Don’t be reluctant to push your supplier.  After all, his success depends on you.  A good supplier will welcome the challenge.

A weekly visit by a salesman carrying a box of donuts, or delivering golf balls, should not affect your decision on where to buy tooling systems.  Are you sure that you are at least aware of the latest advances in your industry?

Forget the donuts …bring the technology.

Having just returned from a major international trade conference, I’m sitting at my desk going through a stack of business cards that I brought back with me.  Business cards are always the same size and the shape. Each has the name and address of a company, and the name and title of the person who gave it to me.

Titles gradually change.  Someone who was a CFO four years is now a CEO. That’s fairly logical, and IT Managers are becoming more popular.  But a title that was not uncommon a number of years ago seems to now have disappeared entirely.

That title was simply, “Extruder”.

The Extruder was an owner-manager who spent most of his time on the shop floor trying to increase his profit by more effectively converting aluminum billets into saleable product, and the rest of his time, selling.

The absence of that title, and the delegation of the responsibilities it implied, sometimes results in a situation that is unacceptable to both the extruder and to any supplier who wants to upgrade a major component of the extruder’s production system.

When the Extruder was in the plant, in his efforts to increase profit, he had two distinct priorities.  First was to maximize productivity with the production system he was operating.  That is, maximum ram speed, maximum recovery, minimum scrap, minimum unscheduled downtime, and so on.  Second, to be constantly watching for any new technology that might be profitable investment.  The decision to make any changes to the components of the existing production system was always considered too critical to the future of the company to be made by anyone except the Extruder himself.

The company grows. Soon the Extruder can no longer manage everything himself.  The first executive addition is almost always a Sales Manager.  The next is usually a Plant Manager.  The extent of the Plant Manager’s mandate from the outset is where a serious and unanticipated problem can originate.

Plant Managers generally are experienced extruders who do their best to get maximum productivity from the production system they are operating. The Plant Manager, however, who is expected to research, select and justify the purchase of new equipment which reflects an advance in the technology of extrusion has an unenviable task, since he has almost no real incentive to do so.  He has little to gain personally if his decision proves profitable.  But the blame will be immediate if the new equipment has been poorly chosen, and fails to meet expectations.     Why take any chance at all?  It must appear to this Plant Manager that his best policy is to stick with what he has, and make no changes.

If the Extruder, who’s card now reads CEO, retains the authority to upgrade any major production equipment, and to decide from whom the new equioment  will be purchased, or at least establishes a firm company policy that all decisions of this nature must be made by senior management, he will avoid putting the Plant Manager in an almost untenable position, and ensure that the company will continue to make best use of all technical advances in our industry as soon as they can be proven profitable.

Two products that typify major improvements in the science of extrusion are the single cell die oven and the quick response container,

And in Conclusion . . .

It is both unfair and impractical to charge the Plant Manager with the responsibility of replacing any existing production equipment with a new products that incorporates an important advance in the technology of aluminum extrusion.  This is so important to the continued success of the company that it should only  be implemented by a member of senior management.

Just now in very large extrusion plants, it is not uncommon for the CEO to have neither any knowledge of the extrusion process, nor any interest in the extrusion process.  He does, however, have a responsibility to the shareholders to ensure that the plant is being operated in a manner that will maximize profit.  It certainly behooves him, therefore, to be aware of an opportunity that is perhaps overlooked.

1) Passion fuels planning

2) Get everyone involved inspired and thinking

3) Make sure that your project has support

4) It is important that the plan is congruent with other goals

5) Be flexible and resilient, not everything always goes according to plan

6) Do not make major changes when things are going wrong. Many changes made to plans during these times are about avoidance.

7) Build a team and provide leadership

Great things do not happen by accident, they are usually the result of planning by creative thinkers.