O’Fallon Casting’s Decade of Growth
In its 10 years as O’Fallon Casting, the investment caster’s annual sales have grown from $10 million to $25 million. SHANNON WETZEL, SENIOR EDITOR
A
s O’Fallon Casting General Manager Vince Gimeno gives a tour of the investment casting
facility in O’Fallon, Mo., he stops by each employee’s station to chat or share an inside joke. T ey are happy to see him. T e mood in the facility is refl ective of the changes Gimeno and owner Barry Hadley implemented over the last decade to grow the com- pany and improve the process, quality and work environment. Walls have been torn down in the
offi ces and the shop fl oor, giving the facility an open, airy feeling. Doors have been replaced with automatic glass sliding doors to make it feel even more open. Wall space is covered with high-quality posters and signage. Some of the signs depict production information, others highlight castings O’Fallon Casting has made and their end-use. Gimeno points out the com- pany has a photography club, so if an employee takes a good photo, they’ll make a poster from it. During the tour, he insists on intro- ducing each technician and that they have their picture taken. T e equipment—while important and still pointed out—is secondary. Barry Hadley purchased
O’Fallon Casting in 2003, and brought along Gimeno as general manager. Hadley and Gimeno had worked together for several years in other casting facilities and saw the opportunity in O’Fallon.
T e investment casting company was a good company with stable business, but it hadn’t grown in more than 10 years. In the fi rst meeting at their new
business, Hadley and Gimeno told the employees of their vision to make O’Fallon Casting world class. It wasn’t just lip service. Hadley and Gimeno began proving they meant business that fi rst year by engaging in small improve- ment projects, $10,000 at a time. T e fi rst project: updating the entry hallway into the production facility. “We put in new fl oor and ceiling tiles and painted the walls,” Gimeno said. “Why spend the money on a hallway? We wanted to provide a bet- ter work environment and project a better image.” From there, the projects grew in
scale. New lighting was installed to make the plant brighter and more energy effi cient. Hadley and Gimeno focused on infrastructure such as replacing the ancient A/C. While installing a new roof, dormers were added to provide natural light and ven-
O’Fallon Casting O’Fallon, Missouri
Number of Employees: 160. Number of Shifts: T ree. Process: Investment casting.
2013 Annual Sales: $25 million.
tilation. A new water fi ltration system was installed that recycled the plant’s water, cutting usage by more than half. “We were using 1.5 million gallons of
water a month!” Gimeno said. T e drastic reduction led to O’Fallon Casting win- ning “2005 Manufacturer of the Year” for the City of O’Fallon and a “Gold Award” from the State of Missouri. Improvement projects continued.
Hadley and Gimeno modernized the wax department, ending the practice of transferring wax in buckets and replac- ing it with an automated wax recycling system. When they bought the plant, employees were hand-dipping the trees, so the company fi rst purchased second-hand robots and rebuilt them for automatic dipping. Eventually the used robots were replaced with new, state-of-the-art ones, as more money became available. “We had a transition where our
Alloys Poured: Aluminum, copper-base and aluminum/ silicon carbide metal matrix composites.
Capabilities: Digital radiography, laser marking, noncontact inspection, digital product defi nition, counter gravity low pressure air melting.
Markets: Aerospace, defense, medical, air and fl uid fl ow.
employees went from shell builders to technicians,” Gimeno said. “Once they felt comfortable with the robots, we bought new Shellomatic ABB robots.” Total investment in the shell department was about $2 million. T e building was painted inside and out. Teams initiated 5S projects, starting with the worst of the shop, the grind- ing area, in 2004. Since the investment cast- ing business was bought in 2003, O’Fallon Casting has grown to 160 employees and from $10 million in sales to $25 million in sales. It has added equipment to increase
January 2014 MODERN CASTING | 29
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