EDITORIAL
Everyone’s Responsibility I
f you have ever spent time in Chicago, you probably have heard the roar and squeal of the
city’s “L” trains as they raced above you on elevated tracks thoughout the city’s downtown neighbor- hoods. Tese commuter trains are part of the fabric of the city, similar to the cable cars in San Francisco or the gondolas in Venice. Last month, the Chicago Transit Authority
(CTA) and its “L” train cars appeared on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. Te headline read: “New CTA Cars Had Hidden Danger.” The new rail cars the CTA purchased from
Bombardier Transportation, Saint Bruno, Can- ada, contained faulty cast steel journal bearing housings. In the Tribune article, CTA officials said these components allow the movement of the wheels on the rail cars to be independent from the axle, and if they are defective, the risk of derailment for the rail cars is extremely high. Each rail car has eight of these cast housings in the truck assemblies. The rail cars are assembled in a Bombardier facility in Plattsburgh, N.Y. The total number of castings required to build the 706 rail cars contracted for by CTA is 5,648. The first 54 rail cars put into service in 2011 ran for about six months before they were pulled out of service due to the faulty castings. According to the
the story was the fact that Bombardier is re-sourcing the castings to facilities in China and Germany. Obviously, this is frustrating. Aside
from the issues with the Buy America provision under which CTA received the funding for these rail cars, some custom- ers just aren’t receiving the message. Smart buyers are returning to regionalized sourcing of their cast components. Total cost (including rejected parts) must be considered when deciding on a source. Hopefully, stories like
“What made me stop and think more about the story was the fact that Bombardier Transportation is re-sourcing these
Tribune, CTA said its inspectors found several problems with the cast housings. Te surface fin- ish on some castings was described as looking like “a severe case of chicken pox.” Other castings had excessive grinding per- formed on the surface. X-rays revealed excessive gas porosity in many of the castings. Bombardier originally sourced these faulty
components to facilities in China and Germany.”
this can serve as a con- tinual reminder to you, as manufacturers of cast components, that you must always be pushing your message to your customers. An old marketing adage says the average person must be exposed to a message seven to 10 times before he or she will act upon it. So when we are talking to our customers, we must be diligent and consis- tent in presenting our message. Even though business is stronger than a couple of years ago, we can’t forget the importance of educat- ing our customers on the basics because a new generation of buyers and designers is constantly entering the workforce. This education is a
never-ending process that is everyone’s responsibility. The “L” trains in Chicago just served as a reminder of this fact.
castings from a metalcaster in China. Since be- ing confronted with the problem, the company has re-sourced the safety-critical component to two new suppliers, while adding quality control measures to the sourcing process. Tis type of story isn’t new to many of you. More
than likely, your facility has lost work to a foreign source not held to the same quality standards as you. But what made me stop and think more about
Alfred T. Spada, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
If you have any comments about this editorial or any other item that appears in MODERN CASTING, email me at
aspada@afsinc.org.
April 2012 MODERN CASTING | 7
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