KOYAMA: NOT JUST IRON
While Koyama has advanced the technology in its iron facility, the aluminum casting plant is high on automation as well, particularly for a job shop. Utilizing a combination of permanent and semi-permanent mold casting cells, the firm casts via gravity and tilt pour systems. For all cells, the metalcaster employs robotic pouring.
Pictured is a casting cell with robotic pouring for cylinder heads in Koyama’s aluminum casting facility.
the eye of Sintokogio and Roberts Sinto Corp., which decided to partner with the metalcaster to develop and market these automated grinding systems in North and South America and China. For higher production compo-
nents, Koyama has pushed its clean- ing and finishing a step further to include linear production lines that incorporate trim cells and automated grinding for one-piece flow through the facility (Fig. 3).
Environmental & Safety Initiatives Many Japanese metalcasters report
they focus on the environment and how their facilities influence it. Te envi- ronment is part of their management strategy and all their planning around technological or production advance- ments. As a result, environmental initiatives typically amount to 10% of
any annual investment into a facility. “Te Japanese mindset is focused
on the environment more than others,” Koyama said. In the new and old iron facilities, hoods to capture emissions are present on all furnaces, pouring ladles, mold conveyors and cooling lines. In the new iron facility, the dust collection system as a whole processes total air volume of 12,000 cu. m/minute. From a safety perspective, Koyama,
like many other Japanese metalcasters, plays children’s music (rather than a horn) during molten metal transfers to alert employees to the potential danger. Koyama also focuses on noise reduc- tion as much as any other environ- mental or worker safety initiative when developing production advancements. With the new iron casting facility, Koyama said its mold line emits only
75 dB(A), while a typical mold line emits noise in the 85-100 dB(A) range.
Push to the Future All of Koyama’s cast-
ing production stays within Japan. Te firm always has followed this philosophy of being a local source, referenc- ing the traditional Japanese manufacturing model of OEMs surrounding them- selves with their suppliers. “We focus on difficult to produce parts that can’t be
exported just anywhere,” Koyama said. “Te efficiencies we achieve and quality we deliver keeps our customers happy.” Te customer list for Koyama
contains many of the usual suspects, including Subaru, Komatsu, Hitachi, Caterpillar, Bosch and Toshiba (all Japanese operations). Te continuous improvement to
advanced technologies has Koyama on the fast track for growth. Te firm saw a significant dip in sales during the recent recession from 13 billion yen in 2008 to 9 billion yen annually in 2009 and 2010, but the new production increases have put the plant on a path to 20 billion yen by 2015. “We believe the new iron facility
will dramatically change our capabili- ties, opening the door to many new opportunities,” Koyama said.
Koyama captures emissions at every point of the production process in both the old and new facilities.
22 | MODERN CASTING July 2011
Fig. 3. Koyama uses automated linear cleaning lines for higher production runs.
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