necessary permits, to avoid any red-tape delays. “Bill did a great job working with
the community, from the mayor of Duluth down the chain of command, as well as with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA),” Fulton said. In 2011, Grau and his environmen- tal engineers worked with MPCA to rewrite its permit for dust collection. Te process was difficult but made obtaining the 2012 permit easier with just an amendment. “With pollution control, you need to have open communication with those agencies,” Grau said. “We found that over the years, doing what you have to do to comply and noth- ing extra was not the best approach. Everything was legal, but there were gaps. We rewrote the permit in 2011 to fill in all those gaps. We closed the gaps with our environmental invest- ment as part of our capital project. ME Elecmetal enhanced dust collection to the arc furnace and on the pouring floor.” In 2013, the Duluth facility will
regroup, looking to further improve efficiencies after all the dust has settled from the major investments of the past two years. “Tis is our showcase facility,” Ful-
ton said. “We have customers from six continents that we bring here.”
Other Ways to Open Capacity Te two years of plant optimiza-
tion at Duluth increased its sweet
spot of 110 net good tons per day to 160 net good tons per day, or 40,000 tons annually. Tose 40,000 tons are already committed for 2013, but Ful- ton said his customers are covered. “We are sole sourced with many
customers, and we work closely with them to predict the expected life of their castings,” he said. In the highly abrasive process of tumbling ore and rocks to break them down to smaller pieces, the iron and steel cast linings inside the drum take a beating. Te expected life of a casting can range from weeks to months. With dozens of castings used to line a single mill, the industry is constantly in need of replacements. ME Elecmetal pre- plans production of the replacements based on life expectancy and book it into capacity planning for the plants. “Our challenge is those new mines
out there that want castings in six months,” Fulton said. “We can’t handle
those right now. Tat’s why we are building in China.” Te 30,000-ton-per-year cast-
ing facility in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, is expected to break ground in the first quarter of 2013. “We are in a tight capacity position
right now,” Fulton said. “Te intent is to use the Chinese plant for the Asian, Russian, Australian and African prod- uct, which will open up capacity here to service the growth that is going to happen in North America.” As an example, the Duluth facility
currently fills orders to be shipped to Egypt and Indonesia that could be more effectively delivered from China. ME Elecmetal dual sources its pat- terns among its U.S. and Chile plants, as well, providing a relief valve when orders are backed up at one facility. ME Elecmetal also works with its
customers to improve the life of the cast linings so fewer are needed through-
ONLINE RESOURCE
Visit
moderncasting.com for ad- ditional photos of ME Global’s Duluth V-process facility.
34 | MODERN CASTING January 2013
ME Global pours abrasion resistant white irons and pearlitic and martensitic steels suitable for high impact applications.
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