CASTIRGALU converts knowledge into money by customized turnkey projects adapted to the needs or to the scope of the company. Consultancy projects are targeted to:
Cost reduction.
Knowledge drives to reduction or elimination of operations or product additions that do not provide any added value to the manufactured products. It is always at the forefront of all consultancy projects.
Castings defect characterization, reduction and elimination.
A correct identification is critical to focus the right solution, as well as observation of the foundry practices (many times the real process is not run as specified).
Pattern plate design to optimize casting yield.
Usually designs are conservative to absorb variations of the process. Best and consistent practices are deployed in the foundry shop prior to casting yield optimization.
New equipment or facilities start-up or ramp-up production.
Every area of the manufacturing process is adapted to solve the usual starting incidents and linked to the rest of the facilities/devices to get the fine-tuning ASAP.
Melt preparation and treatment (chemical composition, conditioning, magnesium treatment, inoculation).
Education and training of operators and supervisors in advanced metallurgy knowledge are fundamental to understand the benefits of certain products addition, of cutting-edge technology approach and of state of the art procedures to prevent costly problems in the castings and processing shortcuts.
Molding machine performance.
This is the main equipment which may be squeezed to get its maximum performance. The procedures and the rest of the facilities are adapted to this goal.
Sand shop adjustment to molding machine.
Depending on the type of castings and the facilities, sand shop is regulated to minimize or eliminate problems associated to sand in castings (almost more than 70% of the scrap rate is related to sand).
Core shop optimized performance.
Dimensional clearances, wearing and stacking problems and placement in the mold are considered.
Bottle neck reduction.
The entire operation is surveyed to find solutions to productivity problems.
Machining problems related to metallurgy, soundness or residual stresses.
The benefits of the machining process usually outweigh the costs associated with foundry practice modifications.
Foundry performance improvement
Studies carried out at foundries allows positioning foundry performance, identifying niches with room for improvement and suggesting a plan to improve OEE (Operational Equipment Efficiency), TEEP (Total Effective Equipment Performance), process yield, labor productivity, energy consumption, new sand consumption, casting rework, scrap rate, etc.
Technical and organizational survey (audit) and due diligence.
We recommend the most suitable practices to the foundry and follow up with the implementation of these procedures to get the best performance of the current facilities. A good use of the technology avoids the need for investments. Investment is only suggested when the technology is fully mastered and when it is fully justified in terms of quality or productivity. Our know-how in the state-of-the-art technology allows suggesting the most appropriate investment according to the needs and scope of the company.
New product opportunities review.
Studies are performed to accurately and objectively evaluate the potential benefits of a particular product or process implementation.
Quality control and optimization.
Controls to be made and deviations from customer specification are solved. Discussions with OEM about attainable mechanical or physical properties are also considered.
Engineering
Process parameters, chemical composition, inoculation, feeding and gating design, etc., are considered to consistently fulfil customer’s requirements.
Heat treatment optimization.
Parameters of heat treatment are adjusted to the specifications of the castings, or the castings are adapted to the trusted heat treatment.
Audit of foundries for casting buyers.
Foundry audits are carried out to observe practices and facilities performance to diagnose the current status and provide recommendations for improvement and needs in the future according to the strategic plan for the company. Complete SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analyses are carried, scoring them for an easy and understandable evaluation.
Expert witness in casting and foundry related cases.
Whether a casting fails in the foundry, at the machining shop, during assembly, or in the field, it is essential to determine the root cause quickly, to avoid long litigation problems. If the casting is deemed to be defective, we shall quickly investigate and implement corrective and preventive foundry procedures. We also can help the OEM to select the correct alloy and quality level for each selected casting depending on in-service requirements.
Education and training.
Basic concepts and applied state of the art technology on site, in the classroom or online tailored and customized training courses are available. A basic or advanced understanding of the phenomena that affect to each part of the manufacturing process (metallurgy, mold, cooling, molding machine, sand shop, engineering, etc.) is very valuable to be able to correct current mistakes and to technologically improve the foundry performance.
