SPECIAL FOCUS: PLANT ENGINEERING


Nortrak casts steel and iron pieces of railroad trackwork.


labor hours per mold. Furthermore, proposed mecha-


nization in other departments will eliminate manual operations and increase workers’ safety, a prerequi- site in the expansion.


Expansion Milestones


New Sand System Nortrak intended to convert to a


chromite sand molding system in order to mitigate sharp increases in the cost of olivine sand and improve the surface quality of its castings. Before mak-


Date


ing the final decision on the new sand system, Nortrak reviewed a comparison of olivine, which included the existing olivine-silica system as well as a pure olivine system with thermal reclama- tion, and chromite-silica systems,


Plastics department moved to a new location Building extension completed


Chromite/silica sand system commissioned Relocation of pattern shop and cleaning bays


Ramp-up of production with new molding and shot blasting


Raw materials handling Fig. 3. The project is planned in logical steps with minimum interruption of production. 28 | MODERN CASTING October 2013


August 2013 November 2013


January 2014 March 2014 July 2014


September 2014


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