surrounding the facilities with the foresight of expanding, as well as keeping a polite buffer between the facility and its neighbors. The extra land afforded the opportunity to add on the 16,000-sq.ft. building, which houses the nobake molding line, including a 500-lb./minute Palmer mixer and turntable, a new sand system, and eventually, cleaning and heat treating space. One of the company’s main
concerns was to have it flow effi- ciently with the existing melting and shakeout areas. “We had a fixed endpoint and a
constrained beginning point, and we had to fit the project into the enve- lope,” Olson said. “We wanted to minimize the complexity of the layout and improve foundry maintenance. It had to fit the job shop environment.” Olson, Zach Utsinger, vice-
Olson Aluminum melts two alloys and uses careful degassing techniques to ensure melt quality.
became the deciding factor to branch out into nobake casting. “We learned we could do more in the cope in nobake molds,” Stahl said. “Nobake allows us to get a better range of part size, provide more detail and incorporate deeper draws.” After branching into prototyping
(which makes up 15% of the busi- ness) in the 2000s, Olson Aluminum is making another push to diversify by producing more complex, larger castings, and taking on more second- ary operations responsibility, such as machining and coating. “It’s what customers are asking for,”
Stahl said. Customers now can have their different needs met at Olson
22 | MODERN CASTING August 2012
Aluminum. Te new line also will take on overflow from the green sand lines when needed. “Te nobake line should take some
pressure off the green sand lines for many jobs,” Olson said. “So we now have added flexibility between the two processes.”
Matching Process Flow Olson Aluminum’s green sand
lines are positioned well between the pattern shop and the melting room and make use of every square foot; however the facility was challenged by existing real estate. Fortunately, over the years Olson Aluminum acquired plenty of land
president of engineering, and Wayne Carr, vice president of manufactur- ing, visited a number of metalcasting facilities to see what worked and what didn’t to form a plan for the facility’s expansion. “We talked with other foundries, suppliers and consultants to choose the pieces we thought would work and integrate them into the facility,” Utsinger said. Eventually, the team came up with a design that positioned the sand system, mixer and turntable toward the back of the building, with the mold pouring and cooling lines toward the center and a clear path from the adjoining melting room and shakeout. Te new cleaning area was installed
conveniently at the front of the addi- tion, just off the shakeout area of the existing facility. “We wanted to increase product
variability with a smooth and effi- cient material flow without zigzag- ging through the shop,” Olson said. The need for the nobake shop
grew before it was ready to go into production. “We were waiting for the most
vulnerable time in the recession, and that was the point at which we wanted to start building.” Olson said. Te metalcasting facility set up a
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