Flowserve utilized the investment casting process in its steel casting facility, as well as its titanium and zirconium facility.
and was named to the Fortune 500 list for the fi rst time in 2010. It runs four casting facilities in North America—two facilities in Dayton, one in Hastings, Neb., and Canada Alloy Castings, Kitch- ener, Ontario, Canada—to furnish cast components for its products. The three metalcasters work together to supply casting size ranges up to 22,000 lbs. “The Flowserve foundries formerly supplied 100% of the casting needs for Flowserve Corp.,” Porreca said. “Over the years, with the globaliza- tion of this corporation, we have moved a lot of our casting purchases to low cost sources.” Porreca and Carano say they un-
derstand that the long-term health and success of Flowserve sometimes call for purchasing from a lowest cost source. The Dayton casting facility has worked over the years to reduce its costs through a continuous improve- ment program to streamline the facility’s operations. But for many parts, the cost reductions have not been enough to compete against other nations. “We certainly don’t want to lose the
work that we do well and have done well for many years,” Porreca said. “But there are some castings where we are just not competitive based on price.” The type of casting orders that have
the commercial market, the cast- ing supplier consolidated the melt centers and processes under one master schedule to become leaner and more fl exible. Rather than oper- ate independent of one another, the various processes are scheduled as a single operation. “That fl exibility has become a
great strength for us in the com- mercial market,” said John Carano, sales manager. “It’s highly unusual to have a metalcasting facility with all of these processes.”
“That fl exibility has become a great strength for us in the commercial market,” said John Carano, sales manager. “It’s highly unusual to have a metalcasting facility with all of these processes.”
Losing Orders to Find Core Strength In 1997, Flowserve Corp. was created
out of fl uid motion and control com- MODERN CASTING / June 2010
panies Borg-Warner Industrial Products and Durco International (formerly Duriron). The $4 billion corporation operates more than 150 plants and ser- vice facilities in more than 50 countries
turned out to be a best fi t for Dayton Foundry are lower production runs with short lead times. Generally, the orders are for high alloy or diffi cult to cast alloys, like super duplex stainless steel. In the last year, the casting facility also has seen a number of orders for parts using Styrofoam patterns, which are used specifi cally for small orders. These generally are legacy or one-off parts where the cost of typi- cal tooling can be cost-prohibitive. To minimize pattern construction cost and time, Dayton Foundry makes the patterns out of foam rather than wood or polyurethane. The foam patterns can be re-used for up to fi ve parts. “Those same things that Flowserve needs, other [commercial] custom-
ers would need, as well,” Carano said. Dayton Foundry still has a hand in
the castings sent to low cost suppli- ers overseas. The Ohio casting facility
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