Data-Driven Decisions
Palmer Foundry is using statistical analysis of its equipment, raw materials and environment to operate more efficiently and intelligently. SHANNON WETZEL, SENIOR EDITOR
manufacturing and cutting-edge computation. It might be surprising to hear many key components of the equipment used to make semicon- ductors are aluminum sand castings. Palmer Foundry, a nobake and green sand casting facility in Palmer, Mass., has been supplying this high-tech industry—and others like it—for more than 25 years, and in the last two years, the metalcaster has committed to thinking and operating like its data- driven customers. Since the beginning of 2012,
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Palmer Foundry has been implement- ing vast data collection throughout its two facilities and integrating the information from its processes, opera- tions and products into an enterprise manufacturing intelligence system. Te still-growing system has given the business a smarter way to operate and improved the way it maintains equip- ment, controls the working environ- ment, adjusts raw material inputs, schedules pouring and identifies areas of potential capacity.
24 | MODERN CASTING February 2014
s the foundation of modern electron- ics, semiconductors evoke high-tech
“You hear a lot about lean manufac-
turing, but this is much more power- ful,” said Bob Logan, Palmer Foundry president. “Knowledge is power, and this is knowledge packaged in a form we can use.” Palmer Foundry started its data
management in 2012 with stand- alone pieces of equipment, such as the dehumidifier installed in the nobake facility in 2010. As an aluminum casting facility selling vacuum tight castings, the metalcaster is concerned about the amount of moisture in the air. Formerly, the best way to pre- dict outside conditions was to visit a weather website and see the forecast. Director of Engineering Jim Lagrant installed temperature and relative humidity sensors on the plant floor and outside. Initially, the information was pulled into a spreadsheet, but trends could not be readily identified. “It was a laboratory system and
it wasn’t bulletproof, but the vice president, operations manager and president saw the value of this data,” Lagrant said. By controlling the foundry ambi-
ent conditions on high humidity days, Palmer Foundry does not need
to maneuver its pouring schedule to make castings impacted by the humidity, such as vacuum-tight castings. “We want to control all the
variables in the process to provide a consistent product, but we can’t control the weather,” Logan said. “I would tell customers to plan for about 17 days a year when we couldn’t pour their parts.”
Te dehumidification system
controls the moisture level in the air, and the first phase of data collection helped predict what days to run it at higher levels. With that success, more variables of the dehumidifica- tion system were collected as data points to help further improve its efficiency, such as when to turn on fans or whether it operates better with an overhead door open or closed. After initial successes with data
collection, Logan gave Lagrant the go-ahead to expand the data project. A survey of the shop floor revealed some equipment already installed with PLCs and others with no automation at all. Nothing was connected together. “I identified which equipment just needed a communication
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