helped, but the company still relies on its floor workers to keep it in line. “Us engineers rely on our supervisors
and lean on their experience to get these jobs to go through,” Eck said. “When I first started, I didn’t know anything about castings, but I was able to rely on the guys that have experience.” One problem the company does not
have is staying busy. Since the begin- ning of 2012, it has been running three eight-hour shifts five days a week, with some additional work on Saturdays. “We’re extremely busy, hiring and expanding the molding area,” said plant supervisor Kerry Kelly. What’s more, Eck said intangible benefits come from being proficient in multiple processes. Where in the past the company would simply set jobs up and let them run, it’s now more conscious of maximizing its floor space and capabilities. For example, “we are really trying to
optimize sand mixer times to service all these different castings,” Eck said. “We
aren’t struggling to find business—we are struggling to do it the best way for us in the constraints of a building that has been here for 60 years.” Te sand system is an area Eck
Industries has improved, according to Weiss. With so much of its attention focused on metallurgical R&D, the company found it had let the process controls in its molding area slip. “We pay more attention to the
sand system now and make sure the required tests are performed every day,” said molding superintendent Rod Christiansen. “Now we have history. We have facts to work from.” According to Weiss, updating its
sand system is just one way Eck Indus- tries has improved. From working with composite materials, the company has learned it can use protective gas as an alternative to degasing with some tra- ditional alloys. From 200-series alloys, it has advanced its ability to maximize mechanical properties through good chemistry control and the use of addi-
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tives. And from general experience, it has learned to melt and pour at the lowest possible metal temperature while designing gating systems that still produce good castings. “We are going to go back now and
re-engineer [our older] jobs based on what we have learned,” Weiss said. “It is amazing and a little embarrassing that you put a job in here in 1970 and don’t change it. Te industry has come a long way, and we have come a long way, but you don’t take the time to re-engineer that job because you don’t want to mess with success. Tat inertia makes us want to kick ourselves in the butt a little. If you only see the present, it becomes difficult to look in either direction.”
June 2012 MODERN CASTING | 23
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