Archive for November, 2009
Knowledge
Every extruder and die caster understands the principle of added value. When aluminum passes through an extrusion die, or is injected into a mould value is added to the metal. Seldom, however, does he equate added value with knowledge. Yet knowledge or ‘intellectual capital’ is often a company’s greatest asset, an asset to be measured, valued, and employed.
The real value of intellectual capital is in its use, not its cost. Much of this knowledge exists in the minds of a company’s employees. The corporation thus creates added value in its people. The employee acquires knowledge capital, and becomes of greater real worth to his employer. The most underutilized asset of many extruders today is the inherent knowledge possessed by their staff. The maximum amount of effectively used knowledge is essential if a company is to be committed to a customer-centered corporate philosophy, to the development of knowledge-based client relationships, and to join the leaders in an expanding and competitive industry.
Knowledge capital exists in several forms. It may be general knowledge which, acquired over time, increases the employee’s overall capability and promotability. It may be company-specific knowledge that increases the employee’s value to his employer. But it may also be industry-specific. This increases the employee’s potential value to any competing company in the same industry. The employee can take with him not only industry knowledge, but also much company knowledge and likely some customer knowledge.
At a time when extruders and die casters are challenged by both record level opportunity and increasing competition, it is important for a company to be aware of the extent, composition, and location of its knowledge capital. It is also important for any company to regularly measure the ability of its employees to develop and acquire knowledge.
Employees should be thought of as an investment, not an expense. And human capital as much as financial capital considered a scarce and valuable resource.
As well as in its employees, a company’s knowledge capital is found in its database of technical and industry information, its patented products and processes, and its customer information.
Another important area is knowledge of the company in the opinion of others, i.e. the company’s reputation in the extrusion industry. This knowledge can only be generated over time by quality, service, and integrity. An extruder’s good reputation and relationship with his customers is, of course, critical to his continued success. But it can also be quickly eroded unless constantly nurtured and protected.
How knowledge is used has a profound effect on the profitability of any company. Almost everything that counts as an accumulation of knowledge is, however, usually paid for and written off as an overhead expense, and charged against current profits. This increases expenses and decreases profits unless management sets out specifically to treat a portion of overhead expense as an investment in knowledge capital.
Extrusion in Kuala Lumpur.
My last blog was simply my impression of the city when i arrived.
I visited the first extruder outside of KL on Monday. It was a very modern facility with 11 presses. Most of the presses were manufactured by UBE and handling equipment by Cometal. Clearly, this extruder was not in business simply because they were cheap. They realized the benefits of new equipment to their productivity.
The next day I visited an extruder in Penang, about an hour flight. Just for interest, we flew on Asia Air. An executive from Virgin started up the airline 3 years ago. Today they have approximately 100 air busses, several Tune hotels, and resorts. The airline was very progressive and inexpensive, delivering a superior value proposition.
Although the 6 presses were slightly older then the first facility, the equipment was very well maintained and functional.
We made a 3 hour presentation to both extruders. It was relatively easy, since both extruders had read most of the extrusion articles published in LMA and Aluminum Times, and met me at at least one ET.
As we progressed through the presentation, both extruders agreed that their extrusion tooling systems were not working properly. Neither was treated as a system, nor thermally controlled.
I believe there are significant opportunities for both extruders to increase their levels of output and profit by working with Castool.
Castool For Thermal Audits
Castool has been performing thermal audits for extruders for several years.
Most of our customers are familiar with the mechanical aspects of alignment, of the extrusion stem, dummy blocks, container and die.
When it comes to thermal alignment, it is a different story. Extrusion is a thermal process. Aluminum’s flow stress is very sensitive to temperature. Our rule of thumb is that a difference of 5°C changes the flow rate of aluminum alloy by about 1%. The lack of temperature management in these processes has slowed their evolution into a science.
The audit usually requires 2 or 3 days. We ask the customer for a purchase order covering the cost of equipment and time. When the customer purchases a tooling system from Castool, the cost of the audit is deducted from the purchase price.
We have 2 Flir thermal imaging cameras capable of making very detailed visual representation of temperatures. When auditing an extrusion plant, we usually take pictures of billet heaters, die heaters, transvayer, container entry and exit, stem and dummy block, die slide, dies prior and during extrusion, press platen entry and exit, run out table, quench, and cooling tables.
We will usually back up these images with a touch probe where possible. We go one step further with die heaters. We have our customers prepare several dies, so that we can place 3 thermocouples in each die at various depths. These dies are left in the present die heaters for several hours and the temperatures are recorded. These measurements are used later as a benchmark.
We also place a meter on the container and die heaters to measures and collect power use, so that we have a valid starting point.
Once the data is collected, a formal presentation is made to management. Usually, the auditor will assist the customer to estimate an ROI if new Castool equipment is purchased.
Once the Castool tooling system is installed and operating, another audit is made and a comparison is made to accurately calculate the ROI.
Let’s not forget the die cast tooling system. It also must be thermally aligned to perform. We make a similar audit to have a snapshot of the existing temperatures. The goal is to have the shot sleeves thermal expansion match that of the plunger tip as it pushed alloy into the die.
In most cases, the ROI for a Castool tooling system is measured in months. Tooling life is always extended and therefore costs reduced, unscheduled down time is reduced or eliminated, energy costs are cut, and scrap is reduced. In nearly all cases, productivity is increased.
Sri Lanka Welcomes Castool
This is a busy place. The roads definitely are not like the 407 ETR in Toronto. Everyone seems to enjoy sounding their horn to announce their presence, and cars (and small 3 wheel Vespa like taxis) are coming from all directions. The hotel where I am staying, however, is absolutely beautiful. Last night we had dinner in a lovely old hotel, right on the Indian Ocean. The driveway was lined with military since some government officials and people from the UN were also there for dinner. The restaurant was full of English people. It appears that Sri Lanka is still a popular vacation spot for Brits. The food and service was amazing, and the bill for 11 people for dinner and drinks was only 120 us$. I must admit, prior to boarding Sri Lankan Air Lines leaving KL, I had never so much as Googled Sri Lanka. The island is relatively small, but not heavily populated by any standard. There are several wild life sanctuaries scattered around the island. There are leopards, elephants, tigers and many other varieties of wild life available to see. Whale sighting is also popular during the winter months. .Today, I spent 5 hours, excluding lunch, with a medium sized extruder just outside of Columbo. The plant was very clean and well organized. The physical alignment of both presses appeared quite good. The billet heater was a chest type, and clearly was challenged to heat billet in the necessary time to an accurate temperature. And of course was not capable of taper heating the billet. The presentation went very well. They were not used to a supplier offering to help them be better extruders. The initial presentation lasted 3 hours after which we went to McDonalds for lunch, and then returned for Q and A. When I return to Toronto, we will prepare the proposal. It will be a challenge, because we must offer a value proposition that they can rationalize. Energy is at a premium. The QR container will be 2 instead of 4 zones. It will have a stepped and tapered liner, so that the customer can remove and install the liner in the press. The goal is to give the majority of benefits of a standard QR container, at a reduced cost that suits their environment. There are no reline facilities close by. I.Tomorrow I will be off to Hong Kong. I’ll be there for the weekend, and then mainland China for the remainder of the week.
Hong Kong
I arrived in Hong Kong last Saturday afternoon, after a pleasant flight from Colombo on Sri Lankan Airlines. By the time I get back to Canada, I wonder how many different airlines I will have flown on.
Met at the airport by Daniel Cheng our local representative who drove me to my hotel. It’s always a pleasure to be with Daniel. He has a wonderful positive attitude toward life in general, and lots of news to share. His enthusiasm is infectious.
In Hong Kong, I stay at the Park Lane Hotel on Causeway Bay. Sounds rather British, doesn’t it? It is close to all the best shops in town.
It’s a common fallacy that shopping is cheap in Hong Kong. Actually, it isn’t. Copies of well-known brands of many luxury items may, of course, be had at a ridiculously low price, but most Asians want the real thing, and are willing to pay for it.
Like most Asian cities, there are a lot of people, and a lot of constantly honking cars. I think they could take a lesson from New York City and London which both, I believe, have by-laws prohibiting the unnecessary use of the horn.
On my early morning walk to Starbucks, I pass many people practicing Tai Chi, both in groups and individually. One elderly lady was passing out a free newspaper and going through her morning ritual at the same time.
Today I’m heading to Shenzen by train, then to Guangzhou. We are going to visit the largest extruder in China.
Daniel Cheng
We had our first meeting and it lasted most of the afternoon, afterwards we went to a seafood restaurant for a feast. The Chinese know how to go out for dinner. The conversation and food kept flowing, without alcohol.
I will continue the China blog later this week, after 2 more Extruder visits.
What is the recommended clearance between the billet and liner?
It depends on loader design and alignment.
Recommendation is 3/8″ (9mm). For example, an 11″ container this is probably the best that can reasonably be expected.
A smaller clearance will result in shorter crush times and therefore shorter dead cycles, but then alignment of billet loaders to the container can become an issue. If alignment can be better controlled to avoid mushrooming of billets when loading, then the clearance can be reduced and possibly a container 7-8mm over billet diameter can be used. Loaders with grippers are necessary with these small clearances.
For a balance of comfort with a good crush intervals 9mm larger in diameter is reasonable, less for smaller billets.
NOTE: With a 40″ long billet, the crush time with a 7mm clearance compared to a 9mm equates to a 22% reduction in crush time, which would be worth around 0.5 sec reduction in a dead cycle – significant! So it’s worth going for if the loader engineering and alignment maintenance is in place.
ASIA NEEDS CASTOOL
On Monday afternoon, we visited a Chinese extruder who has 23 medium to large presses. We had been granted only one hour for our presentation, beginning at 2PM. Three hours later, questions were still coming in from all sides. Intelligent searching questions from people who were obviously hearing much of the Castool gospel for the first time, and wanted to be sure that they understood it correctly when we adjourned temporarily, so that I could have a brief plant tour. We reconvened after the tour and discussed my comments and suggestions for almost an other hour. These were mostly bright young engineers , and they just couldn’t get enough of my theories and Castool products. Much of it appeared to be completely new to them .
On tuesday, we gave our presentation to a group of about 20 people from one of China’s larger extrusion companies. and again met with the same high level of professional interest. This was my last presentatation in an extended and crowded tour, and since this particuar group has 42 presses, I certainly found their real interest in the Castool system approach to extrusion as well as Castool products very gratifying,
Just now in the recovery period following the recent economic crisis, aluminum extruders throughout the world are finding it imperative for survival to both reduce costs and increase productivity. And the bigger the company, the greater the urgency. “This is how we’ve always done it ” is no longer acceptable. It’s not surprising therefore that when Castool presents the now proven theory that all interactive components of an extrusion production process should be considered to be working together as an integrated system, united in a common cause, and when the temperature is closely controlled throughout the system, a return on invested capital can be virtually assured in less than 12 months, the reaction is invariably positive.
This trip has been an unqualified success. From the first call to the last, there have been almost no surprises. All the extruders have the same problems, varying only in intensity. Due to lack of current knowledge, die designers and die correctors are tasked to manage an uneven flow of alloy due to uneven temperatures by modifying the die instead of fixing the underlying root cause of the problem, uncontrolled temperature. This situation has existed for decades, and has appreciably slowed the inevitable evolution of extrusion from an art to a science. Without exception, the extruders I called on want to try at least some part of the Castool solution,
Thank you for allowing me to share my experiences with you,
Paul Robbins
A Hunger for Knowledge
I have visited China and Japan several times in the past, but my recent visit has, of course, been my first since the global financial crisis. Several people have asked me, ”Have things changed?”. The short answer is, “Yes”.
It used to be possible to categorize extruders in three fairly clearly defined levels of competence, average, good, and Superextruders. Now that the World economy is entering the recovery phase, many manufacturers of only average competence are dropping from the scene, and extruders are no exception. Even some quite large companies which were perhaps previously aided by economies of scale are finding it impossible to cut their price, reduce their cost and at the same time increase their productivity.
During this extensive trip, I learned a lot. Not too much really useful information about the current and potential market can be gained from the statistics published by business and trade publications, because it is based primarily on what has happened in the past. Any direct extrapolation at this time is virtually useless. In my experience, the only way to get a valid idea of the potential of a market is to go there yourself, not just to talk to people but, as importantly, to talk with people. Learning what they have done, what they are presently doing, or even what they intend to do, is not enough. It is more useful to know what they are thinking about, what they know, what they don’t know, and so on. That is why I now feel so positive about the potential for Castool in the Far Eastern market.
I was met everywhere by groups of enthusiastic young engineers, questioning some of the erroneous theories regarding the extrusion production process that have been accepted as gospel ever since the first billet was heated, and pushed through a die.
We have talked and written so much about the Castool theories regarding temperature control that we sometimes take them for granted, It is therefore really gratifying and stimulating to experience the hunger for new knowledge on the part of most of the groups of primarily younger engineers and technicians we talked with. Sometimes a single sentence could set off a lengthy animated discussion. I think my favourite was. “With proper temperature control, the die doesn’t make the profile, it simply allows it to be made.” This usually caused several people to begin enthusiastically questioning my assumption at the same time. These people are hungry for new technical knowledge.
Understandably pragmatic, these extruders want to see Castool’s new theories verified to their own satisfaction in their own plants, I feel sure that if these initial installations are properly supervised, and the results accurately monitored, the future of Castool is incalculable.
I’ll admit, that a trip of this magnitude was pretty exhausting, mentally as well as physically, however I have my own remedy for travel fatigue. It’s physically invigorating, but also, a sort of cerebral catharsis. When you’re coming out of a tight turn with your knee down, you’re certainly not thinking too much about the state of extrusion in Kuala Lumpur.
