Gibeaut took the reins in 2003, the company has grown from $25 mil- lion per year to an $88 million sales record in 2011. It is approaching the $100 million mark, according to COO Tim Mohs. In 2010, the executive team set its sights on making Sivyer a world- class supplier. “We wanted to be leading-edge in engineering, management systems and technology, and we wanted to be viewed as the best of the best in those areas,” said Keith Kramer, president. “Tis became our marching orders, to take this old company and revitalize it.” Several key leadership positions
were filled during this period, through promotions as well as recruiting. Dale Weeldreyer, a 20-year purchasing and engineering veteran, was hired as vice president of operations. “We’ve been lucky enough to have
an ownership group that has had the confidence in us to invest in us continu- ally,” said Mohs. “So we’ve been able to not only do the structural repairs, but the growth remodeling as well, building flow and lean into this operation. It’s been quite an undertaking.”
From the Ground Up
“We had three primary projects in 2010 that we knew we had to do,” Mohs said. “We had to build a pattern shop, we had to build a training center for our employees, and we wanted to install thermal reclamation for our sand.” Vice president of technology Hal Davis and his group designed a new pattern shop, which was one of the first major investments. “We don’t build patterns here,” Mohs explained. “It’s in our dreams, but right now we just do pattern repairs. It’s a big step forward from where we used to be.” As capacity and volume increased, the main facility outgrew its ability to house customers’ patterns, and storage was added. Sivyer used to reclaim about 20% of its sand and reuse it mechanically, while the rest was landfilled. In 2010, the company began installing a ther- mal reclamation system, which burns off the chemical binders and leaves sand that is as good as or better than new, according to Mohs. “We now reclaim 80-85% of our sand,” he said.
Hydraulic arms position a mold for flow coating.
“So we’ve gone from 14 or 16 trucks a day of new sand down to one or two. Not only has it lowered our cost substantially, but we’re not disposing of this sand in the landfill anymore.” Sivyer runs three 10-ton electric arc
furnaces and has three mold produc- tion lines that are 100% nobake (flask and flaskless). Te maximum size flask is 140 sq. in. It has complete finishing capabilities including burn, arc, weld, grind, blast and press, and runs 11 solid-state controlled, gas-fired heat treat ovens. Te company has added two new mixers, a robotic arm for cutting smaller castings, a significant number of dust collection units and two new conveyor systems. “As we added all this equipment, we
realized we didn’t have enough power,” Mohs said. “So one of the largest pieces of our capital expansion project was to add power in stages. As soon as we
get the next stage done, we’ll install a new magnetic particle inspection unit, which will enhance our ability to pro- cess large castings in one area.”
Engaging Employees
A big part of continuous improve- ment and lean manufacturing centers on involving employees in the process. Sivyer has built a new training facil- ity with smart screens and computer workstations. Onsite group and indi- vidual sessions train new employees and address production challenges. An enterprise resource planning
(ERP) system, Odyssey from B&L Information Systems, Bridgman, Mich., logs each employee on every day and is equipped to provide “burst” training. A worker might receive notification of a new training video to watch or an announcement about a company party or other event.
March 2013 MODERN CASTING | 27
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