Palmer Foundry performs image scanning to verify casting dimensions.
Singapore weekly. And while the semi- conductor industry is its biggest market, the metalcasting facility also produces performance aluminum components for mass spectrometers, slaughterhouse equipment, blood analysis equipment, and MRI equipment as well as industrial products. Te company still produces castings for one of its first customers from when the company was founded in 1951. Te industrial hoists and lifts for that customer must bend instead of fracturing; part failure could be fatal. One of Palmer Foundry’s new-
est markets is cast aluminum vacuum chambers used in LED manufactur- ing equipment. Everything else in the manufacturing system is connected to the chamber, so when the customer ramps up, Palmer Foundry must be able to respond quickly in kind. “Tey don’t want to hear they can’t
sell their $6 million piece of equip- ment because they can’t get a casting,” Logan said. Palmer Foundry uses readily available ingot and relies on its manufacturing intelligence system to help with scheduling and efficiency so it won’t affect its customers’ deadlines. Data-driven process control also helps the metalcaster make a convincing argument to convert to a metal casting. “To convince an engineer to take a leap is not easy,” Logan said. “But when engineers come and look at our process, they see it’s not black art.” Palmer Foundry is continuing to find data points to mine and conclu- sions to make from its manufactur- ing intelligence system, and now it is rolling out metrics analysis for the business side of operations, such as scrap rates, job bookings and shipping rates. Te company also is in the plan- ning stages of a potential 10,000-sq.- ft. expansion to accommodate the increasing size of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. “We’re just going to keep getting better and better now that we have the infrastructure in place,” Logan said. “It’s a foundation for us going forward.”
February 2014 MODERN CASTING | 31
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