Changing Lanes
Navistar’s Waukesha, Wis., metalcasting facility has a new name and outlook on its role within the truck engine manufacturing company and as a supplier to outside OEMs.
Shannon Wetzel, Senior Editor
CASTING Metalcaster of the Year for its new molding line designed specifi - cally to produce ductile iron V-8 and V-6 bedplates for International Truck and Engine, now Navistar Inc. Today, the bedplates and days of operating as a largely captive cast- ing facility are gone. The metalcaster has a new name, new managerial team, and a new business model. The ductile iron components maker is working through a learning curve to become a job shop while still serving as a go-to metalcast- ing facility for Navi- star, and maintain- ing casting process knowledge within the parent company. “In fi ve years, there will
S 16
be a gap in the expertise of manufacturing and casting design engineers in the U.S.,” said Houman Kashanipour, president of Navistar’s new
even years ago, International Truck and Engine Corp.’s Waukesha Manufacturing Facility, Waukesha, Wis., was named the MODERN
company Pure Power Technologies. “But we’ll be positioning ourselves to fi ll that gap. We are going to know how to make castings, because castings are critical components for the commercial vehicle industry. This skill set will be a competitive advantage for us against other foundries here and abroad.”
Finding New Volume In 2000, Navistar’s Waukesha plant
made a play for new ductile iron bedplate business for Ford trucks by planning a unique molding line that produced the castings out of a coldbox
core package positioned in green sand molds. The line incorporated a vision system for its core storage, retrieval and setting system. Installed in 2002, the molding line complemented the facility’s two 18 x 24-in. cope and drag green sand lines. Navistar-Waukesha churned out
the bedplates for several years, but eventually news came from the parent company that the business supporting the bedplate orders was going to stop due to Ford choosing to develop its own diesel engine.
Navistar
Pure Power Technologies-Waukesha produces ductile iron, ADI and CGI castings for the heavy truck and en- gine, military, agriculture, construc- tion and hydraulics markets.
MODERN CASTING / October 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60