Fig. 1. Decatur Foundry uses photos to illustrate certain steps in its quality system. Here, an employee demonstrates the proper way to clean a pattern and apply parting compound.


tion and watched how a procedure, such as coremaking or molding, was performed, recording each step with the assistance of team leaders. For each procedure, she worked with the team leader or supervisor to document the process and make sure every step was logged. Photos were taken if needed to better explain a step. Ritter also collected every informal form each department was using to incorpo- rate into the main manual. Next, the actual procedures had


to be written and the wealth of information joined together in a clear, uniform manner. “I worked with each team leader


to write and document their pro- cess,” Ritter said. “This process was then reviewed and approved from a quality standpoint.” The work instructions were compiled into a single 1,200-page manual of procedures detailing 479 instructions (Table 1). Each department keeps the


manual on the shopfloor for reference. Directions for a job are pulled when the new order makes it to the production floor. These detail the standard operating procedures, which are basic guide- lines, as well as step-by-step work instructions that provide additional detail corresponding to a specific process or product. Pictures are often included. Instructions range from 3 to 17 pages long. “Our goal was to make the standard operating procedures real


MODERN CASTING / February 2010


and helpful so that if someone [from another department] needed to step in for a day or two, they would be able to,” Ritter said.


Quality by Example


Decatur’s quality structure can be illustrated with a look at its standard


Table 1. Decatur Foundry’s Quality Manual Sections Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Section 10 Section 11 Section 12 Section 13 Section 14 Section 15 Section 16 Section 17 Section 18 Section 19 Section 20 Section 21 Section 22 Section 23 Section 24 Section 25 Section 26 Section 27 Section 28


QSM Manual and Attachments Quality Assurance Quality Control Molding


Coremaking


Mold and Core Handling and Storage Melting


Pouring Preparation Pouring


Shakeout


Sand Reclamation Chipping


Shot Blasting Grinding


Prime Painting Inspection


Packing and Shipping Casting Handling Maintenance Pattern


Preproduction Development Human Resources Customer Service Purchasing Accounting Scheduling Management Training


operating procedures for general molding. This particular chapter of the manual is a 17-page document il- lustrating the various steps that should occur during the molding process. The chapter begins with a description of the purpose of the procedure and the separate responsibilities of the quality assurance designee, team leader, team members and management, as they relate to molding. Also included in the introduction are ref- erences to other pertinent sections of the manual and the materials and methods needed for the task. The molding procedure in-


cludes the steps required for five main tasks: pattern setup and preparation; making the molds or cores; washing and drying the molds or cores; assembling the molds or cores; and closing the molds. Fifty-two photos are used to illustrate the various steps in detail, such as cleaning the pattern and applying a parting compound (Fig. 1), hand-packing molding sand around chills (Fig. 2), and the correct and incorrect filing of a core’s radius. “We use both words and pic-


tures so we can train employees using three styles—with words on paper, words spoken and through pictures,” Ritter said. “We wanted the procedures to be user-friendly.”


Trust-Building Decatur kicked off its new


quality system in 2007, and the 37


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