The engines manufactured at Navistar’s Melrose Park, Ill., plant come in 3,900 different variations. According to plant manager Ronald Poland, if the facility builds 200 engines a day, all 200 engines could be different.
the metalcaster in a precarious position with its parent company. “We had a line designed specifi-
cally for a bedplate casting, and it was clear that product was going away,” said Rick Bacon, director of foundries for Navistar. Foundry manager Doug Rowe,
like others at Navistar, knew the Waukesha facility would not survive without more volume replacing the bedplate. In July of 2009, the plant decided to make a concerted effort to bring in non-Navistar business. The metalcasting facility is also in posi- tion to produce the complex castings needed for Pure Power Technology’s clean emissions-related systems. High volume work, like the bed-
plates, is a thing of the past for the metalcaster. So the company worked with its union-represented employees to come to an agreement on flex- ible contract negotiations and job descriptions, which allowed a crew on one molding line to run a differ- ent line when needed. Similarly, line operators currently are being trained to make simple fixes to the machines themselves rather than wait for a full maintenance crew. “There was some uncertainty be-
fore with how we fit with Navistar,” Rowe said. “But now, being a part of Pure Power Technologies, we are a core part of Navistar.”
Value of a Captive Metalcaster Pure Power Metalcasting Group
does not get a free pass on Navistar jobs. It must compete in its own right on cost, quality and lead time. The truck manufacturer buys components from all around the world, and Pure Power Metalcasting Group competes against those global sources for Navistar orders. “We are in it to make the right
product at the right cost at the right profit,” Kashanipour said. “If parts from Navistar are not the right parts for Waukesha, they won’t be [made] at Waukesha. But we also may decide to do some castings at Waukesha because we want to control the technology.
July/August 2010 MetAl CAsting Design AnD PurChAsing 27
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