PRODUCT INNOVATIONS
Metal Technologies Speeds Up, Expands Production With New Molding Lines
Metal Technologies Inc.’s (MTI)
Auburn Casting Center, Auburn, Ind., will be installing two Disa 231 X Fast vertical molding machines this summer to take advantage of the new equipment’s high molding speed. Combined with upgraded pouring technology, the new molding lines were planned to position MTI for a casting market upswing. “As a company, we are trying to
maximize productivity in our asset base,” said Matt Fetter, president of MTI. “When the opportunity came to invest, we started talking to Disa. We have a relationship with them, and they were the natural choice for us.” Te Disa 231 machine, which can
produce up to 555 uncored molds/ hour or 485 cored molds/hour, is part of MTI’s goal of increasing capac- ity at the Auburn Casting Center to 140,000 tons, up from 100,000 tons when the plant was built in 1995. Te short-term expectation is to increase capacity by 20% within the next two or three years. “At the same time, [the new lines]
will make us more productive at a higher quality with fewer people,” Fetter said. Te Auburn Casting Center, where the Disa 231s will replace a Disa 2013 Mark V, is a high volume green sand manufacturing facility dealing with the automotive, medium/heavy truck, appliance, compressor and trailer
markets. Along with the new molding machines, MTI is upgrading its melt- ing and pouring systems to match the increased molding capacity. “When you start changing mold- ing lines to get 500 molds an hour, you move the bottleneck or constraints to other areas of the process. It drives the sand department to provide enough sand to molding, and it drives the melting department to feed the mold- ing lines,” Fetter said. After a period of consolidation across its four casting businesses in
North America, the Auburn Casting Center was due for capital investment, according to Fetter. It has installed new laser pouring technology from Koins—Express Pour—on its four casting lines. Te pouring system has the ability to read and control the level of melt in the pouring cup to keep it at a constant, high level without over- pouring. Downstream, a laser reads the metal level in the mold after it has been completely filled and shrink has occurred. Te laser feeds the informa- tion back to the pouring system, which
MTI’s Auburn Casting Center will be installing two Disa 231X Fast vertical molding machines this summer.
50 | MODERN CASTING January 2012
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 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68