editorial E
Farming New Opportunities
A ‘‘
t the heart of our mission at Metal Casting Design & Purchasing is improving the relationship between casting buyers and suppliers. One key
to improving this relationship is delivering you—buyers and designers—any and all information on metal castings (designing, procuring, manufacturing, etc.). T e hope is that the more information you are armed with, the greater the communication will be between you and your supplier, thus improving your relationship. T is issue of the magazine showcases two buyer-
supplier relationships in the agricultural market. Each had an obstacle to overcome in the design of a new product, and they both turned to new process/
At the heart of these stories is the willingness of the buyers and suppliers to explore opportunities and work together to fi nd the new solution.
material developments as part of the solution. At the heart of these stories is the willingness of the buyers and suppliers to explore opportunities and work together to fi nd the solution. T e fi rst relationship involved Great Plains
Manufacturing, Salina, Kan., and one of its suppliers (see feature on p. 22). Great Plains was frustrated with much of the new component development in its shop because it is often forced to design and prototype parts as fabrications that can be produced in-house without any tooling investment. Even when the intention may be to convert to a casting further down the road, resources often are not available. To address the obstacle, Great Plains turned to
a new 3-D printer it purchased to produce plastic prototypes and began using it to produce prototype tooling for metal castings. Working with one of its long-time suppliers, Great Plains was able to test out the feasibility of this technology and develop a new casting that functioned better than the weldment and met the product development cycle. “T is is a big deal for us. T ere’s a lot of money
that can be saved in castings. It’s really hard to go back and save X amount of dollars. It’s easier to do it [as a casting] right off the bat,” said Larry Spaeny, shop manager, Great Plains Manufacturing. “T is [new pattern technology] will help us get to casting testing much quicker. And in the ag business, if we miss a season of testing, we may miss the whole year.” In a similar end-use application, Yetter
Manufacturing, Colchester, Ill., required a new solution to a prematurely wearing fertilizer knife fabrication. As outlined in the Casting Innovations article on p. 49, the solution was to convert the fabrication to a casting and produce it in a new material—carbidic austempered ductile iron. “We needed to clean the part up [by casting it],”
said Lonnie Lucas, engineer, Yetter Manufacturing. “We cleaned it up in every aspect, including inventory. We were able to cut down on the number of parts, which helps maintain our tolerances.” In this conversion story, Yetter and its
casting supplier worked together to redesign the component, including testing three potential materials for the casting. T e two fi rms have a history of collaborating on conversion successes, and in this case, the casting supplier also recommended including a carbide insert at the leading edge for even greater wear resistance. Hopefully, these two success stories provide you
some fodder to enhance your relationships with your casting suppliers.
Alfred Spada, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
If you have any comments about this editorial or any other item that appears in Metal Casting Design & Purchasing, email me at
aspada@afsinc.org.
Jul/Aug 2012 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 7
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