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U.S. Pipe Named Metalcaster of the Year
ODERN CASTING selects its Metalcaster of the Year based on the recipient of the annual American Foundry Society Plant Engineering Committee’s Plant Engineering Award. The award is pre-
sented annually to a North American metalcaster that has demonstrated engineering expertise to advance the capabilities of the industry. U.S. Pipe’s Marvel City Mini Mill, Bessemer, Ala., was chosen for its “creative design of a new facility and its equipment, along with
Ala., which produces large diameter ductile iron pipe. The site was a former bridge fabrication facility and perfectly suited U.S. Pipe’s needs. Only one challenge faced the plant engineers—the selected location was in a 100-year floodplain. That would come to be a driving force behind sev- eral of the engineering decisions the
its unique operational strategy [which] has created the most technologically advanced ductile iron pressure pipe manufacturing plant in North America.” Past winners include Blackhawk de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.,
Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Signicast, Hartford, Wis., General Motors’ Saginaw Metal Casting Operations, Saginaw, Mich., Dotson Iron Castings, Makato, Minn., John Deere Foundry, Waterloo, Iowa, and International Truck and Engine Corp.’s Waukesha Manufacturing Facil- ity, Waukesha, Wis.
company implemented in developing the plant layout.
Engineering Marvel Boyd is a focused foundryman. He
is not a job shop jack-of-all-trades, but he knows pipe casting. So when he was called on to lead the engineering team for the 115-employee Marvel
Making Pipe Step-By-Step
Ductile iron pipe making is one of the better known metalcasting processes. It’s the first to make it to those “how things are made” shows on cable TV, and it produces some
Metal enters the facility from a neighbor- ing plant on one of two railcars.
of the highest weights of castings in the industry. But how exactly does the Marvel City Mini Mill operate? Following is a look at the process from start to finish.
Pouring ladles feed two horizontal cen- trifugal pipe casting machines. The high speed machines are 60% faster than the typical U.S. Pipe machines.
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City Mini Mill, he was able to draw on his wealth of industry experience (as well as that of engineering consulting firm EC&S, Birmingham). The new plant was intended to re-
duce usage in three areas of U.S. Pipe’s existing operations—energy, resources and labor. The improved cupola utiliza- tion represented a reduction in energy
you pour iron, you lose 50-100 degrees,” said Steven Boyd, director of engineering services.
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The metal is held in two furnaces with 195-ton holding (135-ton usable) capacity.
Metal is transferred automatically to pouring ladles in one transfer, which pre- serves energy/temperature. “Every time
Once solidified, the pipes immediately are transferred automatically from the pouring machines to the heat treat lines. Cranes that transfer the pipe are operated by a person in other plants.
5 MODERN CASTING / July 2010
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